Before the first tardy bell even rang this morning, students in the math and science hallways found a little extra excitement added to their typical class agenda. Students were told via an intercom announcement that the hallway housing math and science courses would be moved to the auditorium due to an emergency. An automated phone call sent to parents by Mr. Brady said the reason for the movement was precautionary due to the faint smell of gas that was detected in one of the chemistry labs this morning. District maintenance did investigate and no gas was detected.
Although the move postponed many teachers lesson plans, Stacy Zuppa, a Algebra 2, Geometry, and ITGS teacher, made sure her students got their work done. “They were supposed to be reviewing and taking a quiz today, but since we were moved into the auditorium I’m letting them take it open-notes style in groups,” Zuppa said.
“Last year, I was in the portable, so whenever there was bad weather, my classes were relocated. It got a little annoying, but I’m used to it now- if we’re still in here later, I’m going to have them do the same thing.”
Halfway through first period, students in adjacent halls were also evacuated as a precaution. Students in the foreign language and history halls were informed by school officials that they would be moved to the gymnasium and cafeteria.
This was fine with freshman Jonah Miller, who used the time to review for another course.
“I’m kind of happy about it, it gives me some time to study for my English vocabulary quiz because I didn’t have a chance to before,” Miller said. He was in Jaclyn Militello’s American Government class in the history hallway about to take a test when his class was moved to the auditorium, postponing the Constitution test until further notice.
Other students were not as happy as Miller about the move.
“It’s really loud in here,” Anisha Joshi (’15) said. “I’m trying to study for Spanish and APUSH, but it is kind of hard to.” This was the first time Joshi had been required to move out of her class, a JA (an IB study hall), for safety reasons.
By second period, the emergency was resolved and administration told teachers to resume their normal schedule. All students were back in their regular classrooms.
