When a fire drill occurs—or a false alarm goes off—and SBHS has to be evacuated, students know to line up in the parking lot by their classroom number. This wasn’t always the case, though, as these numbers were only painted on the lots about a decade ago. Before, students haphazardly congregated around the perimeter of the school, and teachers would have to just hope they were lucky enough for all their students to have stayed together.
After years of disorganized fire drills where complete attendance was rare due to students constantly wandering off, Mr. Wilfredo Rivera wanted a way to give every student a designated meeting place to go to during drills. So, he brought an idea to a faculty meeting: paint every classroom number by the parking spots. Surprisingly, a system of organization like this was a brand new idea that not many schools have, so it initially faced uncertainty. Only after multiple years of this proposal from Mr. Rivera was the idea finally complete.
In an interview, Mr. Rivera explained his thought process. He said, “There’s no exact level of seriousness in the drills because everybody knows that we’re practicing. The problem in my mind was: what happens if it’s not a practice situation? Every student could exit the building as practiced, but all it takes is for one person to go a different way towards their friends and the teacher then worries about where they disappeared in an emergency.” He suggested the idea because, otherwise, he felt set up to be unable to do his job, as he can’t predict in the heat of the moment if one student decides to wander off.
When explaining the implementation, SBHS’ Principal Mr. Peter Varela said, “Every year we go through a process where we evaluate our practices. We’re always looking to learn.” The task took years to put it in place after Mr. Rivera’s initial suggestion. Between getting the project approved through all levels of the district, having conversations to develop a plan, and actually getting the board to go through with it, processes like this one couldn’t be rushed. But, as Mr. Varela reminds us, as long as everyone remembers the “why” behind it all—which is to help our school—we all will be on the same page.
Mr. Varela said, “That’s one of the things I like as principal, because I don’t have all the answers. Kids, staff, and parents come up with answers, and we put all of these ideas towards a solution.” Mr. Varela commended Mr. Rivera for offering the solution, which enhanced the effectiveness and efficiency of our drills and emergency preparedness. He said that it takes staff members like Mr. Rivera to offer ideas on our practices so that we continue to improve.
Mr. Rivera ended by saying, “I would like to say that they did it because of my persistence, but more than that, I want to just say they did it because it made sense—a good idea is a good idea, especially if it means it’ll help people.”
