FROM THE STATE VET’S OFFICE
IT’S LIKE A SCHOOL FIRE DRILL ONLY BIGGER A LOT BIGGER! BY D R . T O N Y F R A Z I E R We can probably all relate to the fire drills that were conducted when we were going through school. I specifically remember going through a fire drill in the second grade in Ms. Nettie T. Parker’s class. The actual fire drill totally caught us by surprise that morning. We were doing art and I was coloring a blue bird with my crayons when the alert sounded. Three short bursts from the bell out in the hall followed by a pause, then three more short bursts. It was probably the same at your school. I don’t think we knew it was just a drill. But it didn’t matter if it was a drill or a real fire. Ms. Nettie T. Parker had walked us through the drill several times as 16
Cooperative Farming News
a class when the alert was not sounding. Everyone was to get up orderly, leaving all personal belongings in our desks and line up at the classroom door. Ms. Parker was to make sure that the hallway was safe to enter. After assuring that the hallway was safe to enter, we walked in a line out the side exit of the elementary school and didn’t stop until we got to the flagpole. That was where our class was assigned to meet. Ms. Parker would carry her grade book and call roll at the flagpole just like she had done first thing that morning to make sure we were all there. So, when the bell began to ring that day, I was a little nervous thinking our school could be burning.
