PA public school fire drills (Mars, Penn: credit, school districts, tornado)

[lititzman2003]

Does anyone know the requirements of a Fire drill conducted in the Pennsylvania Public school systems? Does a school receive credit for a fire drill if the students are off that day and it's just the teachers in the building?
Thanks.

[North Beach Person]

Common practice is that schools have to have 1 fire drill per month. A false alarm that evacuates the building or one held when no students are present does not count as that one/month.

Many states are now also requireng tornado and intruder lockdown drills. That last one is a legacy of Columbine which changed the way schools and police departments handle armed intruder situations in schools.

[lititzman2003]

Thanks.

Does anyone know the PA office that I can report this to? Is it the State Fire Marshall's office?

[teachbeach]

Should be able to report it to Board of Education~check their policy manual. Many schools count 1x month on in-service days. Also required to do periodic bus evacuation drills and intruder (Code Red) lock down practice.

[lititzman2003]

Thank you for your responses. I tried contacting the PA Department of Education and the State Fire Marshall's office but I either received no response or their answer had nothing to do with my question. Parents who have students in these schools should be concerned if their children are properly being taught what to do in an emergency.

[Ms_Christina]

I'm not sure if this is a state regulated concern or varies among school districts. If it is not a state issue that may shed some light on why they could not answer your question. Have you tried contacting a specific school district? I know in some states, fire/emergency drills are dictated by the township/city and not the school district/board of Ed.

[lititzman2003]

Originally Posted by Ms_Christina

I'm not sure if this is a state regulated concern or varies among school districts. If it is not a state issue that may shed some light on why they could not answer your question. Have you tried contacting a specific school district? I know in some states, fire/emergency drills are dictated by the township/city and not the school district/board of Ed.

I did hear from the Department of Education and, according to Section 15-1517 of the School Code, there is nothing specific regarding children being present on the day of a scheduled fire drill. How incredible stupid is this??

[PeterRabbit]

Fire dept. should know requirements in specific municipalities.

[lititzman2003]

Originally Posted by PeterRabbit

Fire dept. should know requirements in specific municipalities.

Believe it or not, I did ask a few firefighters in different townships and no one knew. The PA Department of Education apparently makes the rules on this. I understand that the regulations should be same throughtout the state but by allowing schools to have fire drills without the students present is dangerous.

[North Beach Person]

If they are having drills without students present and then documenting that those drills are done with students they're violating a bunch of laws and standards. Since 9/11 the requirements across the board have been tightened up nationally and some entities, public and private, have been hammered for playing games.