1. One tornado drill should be conducted during the fall, the time of the second will be left to the discretion of the building principals and a third required drill shall be conducted in late March or early April.
2. The drill held in March or April should be conducted in cooperation with the countywide tornado drill organized annually by Sedgwick County Disaster Management. The Executive Director of Plant Facilities is the district contact person with the Disaster Management office. Details for this drill will be provided to the principals by Curriculum Delivery Services.
3. Tornado drills will be reported following their completion on the drill report form provided by the State Fire Marshal’s office at the close of the school year.
4. The precise nature of the drill will be determined primarily by the unique structural conditions and availability of safe shelter areas in the building. In some isolated situations, a carefully planned instructional briefing might be preferable to an actual simulation.
5. Other specific procedures for a simulation drill are contained in the policy entitled Weather Warning.
6. Since there are normally no all-clear signals following drills, pupils may return to their classes when the principal is satisfied that teachers have pupils properly sheltered and/or positioned.
7. In the event pupils are on school buses during a tornado warning, bus drivers have been advised by the bus contractor that the following steps are to be taken:
        a. If a tornado warning has been given prior to the departure of a bus from school premises, drivers are instructed not to leave the school with the pupils; instead, the driver is to escort the pupils back into the school or a designated shelter area.
        b. If warning sirens are sounded while the bus is transporting pupils, the drivers are instructed to stop the bus at the nearest shelter and escort the pupils to shelter.
        c. In the event a driver escorts pupils to a shelter area, the driver shall assume responsibility for notifying the principal or secretary of the school the pupils attend who, in turn, will notify key parents regarding the pupils’ whereabouts.
        d. Principals of the schools designated as tornado shelters shall instruct custodians and other personnel likely to be in a building following the dismissal of school to aid drivers and pupils seeking shelter in the building.

Administrative Responsibility: Curriculum Delivery Services
Latest Revision Date: July 1994
Previous Revision Date: July 1992 P1305