Prom season took over during the past month, with seniors staking claim to their dresses and planning after-parties. The preliminary excitement to this rite of passage is the heartwarming, if not nauseating, promposal. Recently, a senior promposed to his girlfriend by asking for a fire drill to occur 10th band, the band right after school reserved for clubs, teams, and tutoring.
Assistant Principal of Organization, Health, and Physical Education, Ms. Ellen Fee, described the fire drill as a rapid dismissal. She explained that, “It is practiced regularly in most schools. We rarely have the chance to evacuate after school and it was the perfect occasion to have one.”
Hector the custodian added, “No matter what you have to follow protocol. My heart won’t allow you to be in danger. Safety is our priority.”
However, a wide range of mixed reactions enveloped the student body and faculty. Many, including most staff members, were not aware of the evacuation drill and were left concerned and confused. Numerous members of the faculty who did not approve of the drill declined to comment for this article.
Senior Michaela Chum described, “The fire alarm definitely offset the environment after school. Everybody just started rushing out so it caused others to panic as well.”
Junior Fatema Haidery added that there was a crowd of students blocking the main entrance, making it harder for people to leave. She expressed, “I don’t particularly care about promposals. I think they can be cute even if they are a little over the top, but the only problem is when you disrupt others.”
Junior Flora Kwok said, “The consequences could have received a little more thought because the purpose of a fire alarm is to alert everyone in the building that there’s a fire. Especially because it was after school, many people thought there was no way it could have been one. A promposal is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but instilling fear into everyone in the building is messed up.”
However, U.S History teacher Dr. Linda Steinmann noted the possible safety concerns that can occur during any fire drill. She stated, “I am wondering what might have happened that constituted an unsafe situation. No one else knew about it, that is my concern,” but felt assured that, “Ms. Fee had it under control.”
Ms. Fee concluded that, “Most students and teachers evacuate our building in great organization and order. But also it is important for our community to use common sense during the sounding of a fire alarm, when there may not be an adult to give directions. That is the purpose of a rapid dismissal. We haven’t done that in years- the drill was [I believe] a success in evacuating the students and the staff quickly and safely. No one got hurt.”
As for the promposer senior Adomas Hassan had this to say, “I meant no harm and it wasn’t meant to cause any trouble. I just wanted to pull something big, and now there is a Classic article being written about it so I guess it worked.”
