By Healthy Knight News reporters | Safety drills are not a game, said Mr Boyd, Russell Byers school safety officer. These drills are serious and rules should be followed.

They play an important role in a larger goal too: Building a positive school climate.

“Everyone can help create a school where students, teachers, and staff feel emotionally and physically safe in their environment,” according to the National School Climate Center, which focuses on providing support and ideas to keep a positive and safe school environment.

A school’s environment “can affect the attendance, concentration, and performance of both students and educators,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The agency seeks to make sure the places where people live, work, and play are safe.

Students at Russell Byers regularly practice lockdown drills, fire drills, and shelter-in-place drills. The purpose of these drills is to keep students safe in case of an emergency.

Fourth graders recently experienced a lockdown drill that made a number of students feel afraid and unsafe. Some students were talking, laughing, pushing, and acting like it was a joke, they said. Their teacher, Ms. Dempsey, explained that the drills are not a joke and students should be sure to stay quiet during them .

“I wanted to run downstairs and get my little sister because I felt scared,” one student said.

“I was mad because I was getting hurt since people were playing around,” another student said.

“I felt unsafe because everyone was talking,” added another.

The purpose of the drills is to be prepared in case there ever is a real emergency. “We use these drills to practice so when there is a real one, we can do better and no one can get hurt,” Mr. Boyd said.

Mr. Boyd told the Healthy Knight News that students should take the following steps during any drill:

• Listen to your teacher.
• Stay quiet.
• Don’t run out of the classroom unattended.
• Follow directions.

If you follow these instructions, you are helping to keep yourself and other students safe, Mr. Boyd said.

“Teachers work together to make sure that students are safe,” he said. “But students need to listen to the teachers to make sure they’re safe during these important drills.”