Garfield Gleanings: An Emergency Drill

by Caroline DePiro

Garfield Campus Steward

Were you teaching a morning class at Garfield on Tuesday, October 14th? If you were, you may have shared the sense of surprise that many felt when the alarms started blaring. They 10 a.m. alarm was loud and effective. Students looked around bewildered at first, but teachers rallied and directed students outside via the proper exits. The police department closed down the street in front of the school, and students were directed to wait across the street from the Garfield campus while the police reviewed emergency procedures before allowing students and teachers to return to class. It was an eventful day!

Leading up to the emergency drill, teachers were given an opportunity to attend a meeting reviewing emergency procedures; our division chairs reviewed the same procedures in our division meetings; also, an email was sent out with detailed information that teachers were encouraged to review with students before the actual drill took place.

Important information that was gained from this experience included an opportunity for teachers and students in each classroom to review which emergency exit their classroom was assigned to, and the drill allowed teachers and students to model all aspects related to evacuation, including appropriate personal behaviors such as staying calm and not running and pushing.

For many of us, learning which exit our individual classroom was assigned to was new information. For those who missed it:

Mariposa Building Exit Routes 

East offices and classrooms go to east exit (student parking), then to Evacuation Area on map. West offices and classrooms go to west exit (palm plaza), then to Evacuation Area on map.

Tropico Building Exit Routes

East offices and classrooms go to east exit (palm plaza), then to Evacuation Area on map. West offices and classrooms go to west exit (Adams Street), then to Evacuation Area on map.

I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to our Administrative Dean, Alfred Ramirez, who organized this emergency practice evacuation for the Garfield campus. As American businessperson and humorist Arnold H.Glasow has said, “One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.” I know that Garfield still has a ways to go, and I suppose some will say that we have only scratched the surface, but I am still happy to report that we have taken a definitive step in the right direction toward emergency preparedness.

@GCCGuild

Glendale College Guild

Visit us on the web: www.glendale.edu/guild and http://gccguild.org

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