How was the end of a fire drill indicated at your schools?
At my middle school and high school they would ring the class change bell when it’s time to go back in.
Elementary school: The bell (which sounds like a Wheelock MT bell outside and a Wheelock MT chime inside) would go off.
Middle and High school: The administrators would give the all-clear after the alarms were turned off.
They would just ring the school bell, whatever that may be.
All the grade schools I attended would ring the mechanical bells for 5-10 seconds to signal the end of fire drills. When I attended Cass Elementary (3rd-5th grade), however, sometimes they would not ring the bells at all, and would just give an “all clear” through the walkie-talkies carried around by some staff members after the fire alarms were silenced.
Elementary school: they’d ring the class change bells three times
Middle school (6th grade): they’d ring the class change bells three times
Middle school (7th and 8th grade): they’d ring the class change bells either once or twice
High school: Teachers would give the all clear, usually a few seconds after the alarms stopped sounding.
Elementary and middle they’d ring the bell, high they’d just wave us in.
Elementary made a PA announcement (speakers were located on the outside of the building). 4/5/6 and middle school waved us in.
High school was interesting. When I got there, they rang the old IBM and Simplex vibrating class change bells to signal an all-clear, some of which likely dated to when the school opened in the early 50s. At the time, these bells had no other purpose, as the class change bell was a tone over the PA system. Before my senior year, they got rid of the remaining bells and they started waving us in.
Elementary school they rang the bells 2 or 3 times to let us in. They always did that too when it started to rain during recess.
High school, they just waved us back in.
Elementary and High School: They ring the class change bell (usually twice). For my high school, it’s a tone that played through the exterior speakers.
Middle School: They resound the fire alarms for about 5 seconds or so (usually twice).
College: At one building, it wasn’t a fire drill, people just gave the hand signal letting other people know that it’s safe to go back in. At another building where it had a part where students can drop off their kids throughout the day: occupants of the building would just wait until about 5-10 seconds after the fire alarms stop sounding.
It depended. For kindergarten and middle school, the all-clear signal was one long ring on the outside bells.
For my other elementary school (grades 1 to 6), I think the faculty would just assume it was safe to go back in once the alarms were silenced, and everyone had lined up and attendance was taken.
In high school, they made an announcement on the intercom, as the school had outdoor PA speakers.
One time in middle school, we had a fire drill close to the end of a period, and as we were outside, the bell rang for the next period (I knew, because I checked my watch.) The faculty said that wasn’t the signal to reenter the building yet. After a bit, the all-clear bell finally rang, and we returned inside.
elementary school: the PA system sounded a hi lo tone for a few seconds a few minutes after the alarms were silenced. sometimes after we come back in to the classrooms, the principal would make a post fire drill announcement regarding how well we did, eventually applauding us for a job well done during the drill, ending with us having a great day of learning.
In my elementary school (K-8) and first high school (grades 9-11), they waved us in. In my second high school (which I attended senior year only), they rang the bell system , which included a PA tone, but also had mechanical bells outdoors and in the gym/cafeteria/auditorium wing. Some of the outdoor bells didn’t work very well. I know they have since installed a new PA system with outdoor speakers, and the mechanical bells are disconnected.
3rd Elementary School (2-5):
[]One Long Ring of the program bell (10-15 seconds)
1st Elementary School (Pre-K 1998-2001/K-1):
[]Announcement over PA System
2nd Elementary School (Pre-K 1999), Middle School and High School:
[*]They would ring the class change bell
Elementary and high school: They come over the PA saying “This concludes the fire drill.”
Middle School: The simplex speaker-strobes connected to a 4003 would chime 4 times then play the standard all clear message.