Proud of our Students
Our students are asked to do a lot of things throughout their 13-year school careers. Fire drills and tornado drills—well, these are two of the practices that I am sure many wonder if they remain necessary after years and years of practice. This week, we answered that question when a small fire ignited on the school’s roof during a scheduled maintenance project. It was necessary to ask our students to evacuate the building, and I can’t say enough how proud we were of their actions and behavior while in the stadium and in the aftermath of the event.
Practice provided the students with the tools they needed to move quickly; our teachers and staff implemented the plans that they, too, practice and Springfield fire professionals arrived on site within minutes and quickly brought the matter under control. We thank everyone involved for their quick and appropriate actions. As part of the final check to return to the classrooms, representatives from Columbia Gas indicated they would like to check all lines in the building, gave us access to the field house but stated they were not sure how long their efforts might take. At that point and not knowing when the all clear would officially be completed, we made the determination to dismiss students.
Early in the afternoon, the building was officially cleared, activities resumed and school and state testing were slated to continue as scheduled. Attendance for April 19 was marked as a non-school day for high school students.
I would like to thank the student body of Springfield High School, the staff and all the parents for their help in getting through this situation. Once again, everyone did a tremendous job of dealing with the situation. Many commented that this was just another of the ways that 2020 and 2021 have been unusual years … I replied that while the challenges have been many, so, too, have been the reasons to be proud of Springfield faculty, staff and students. We are in this together.
