I am one of them, and it's a very troubling thing to talk about regarding school, because although I know what to do when there's a fire, however, it only awoke the want for power in order to protect my children (should I ever have kids with autism someday)...
It's a long story, but I would like to talk about my issue so you may understand my viewpoint...
In 1998, I started school at Willow Creek Elementary in Tomball, TX. I was only 5 years old at the time. For a time, I thought school would be fun, but one Friday afternoon, that went down in flames when my class started talking about fire drills. I wondered, "what's a fire drill?" in my head as my classmates talked about the nature, and then a few seconds later, the alarm sounded. It was traumatizing in my mind because when we got outside, the principals felt it was a good idea to use the intercom DURING the drill, leading me to believe (as a kid) that there was a fire set intentionally by the staff, even though that was not so. The required monthly drills were too hard for me to handle, that everytime there was a drill - especially after the second drill in kindergarten, because I naturally believed that fire drills were a once-a-year only thing - I wanted to hold my ears so the noise would not bother me, but my kindergarten teacher refused to let me do that. Consequently because of this, I was so scared that I cried every day because I felt I was being subjected to this intentionally. I wanted to skip school altogether, and I wanted to run away from the campus during the drill so I don't have to hear it again, but because my stupid teacher held my hand all the time, I could not do so. I felt like I was in prison with no say in my problems...not to mention, my kindergarten teacher telling my parents that I needed to "man up" in front of the principal. When I started 1st grade in 1999, I thought, "it's different now, so maybe they won't do anymore fire drills," hoping that a new school year would mean that I don't need to go through fire drills anymore, but I was dead wrong. The drills got worse than before (at the time) that I voluntarily stopped doing my work because I did not want to be in school anymore if they were going to keep doing these drills. However, I learned (the easy way) that I must not do this or skip school, as it would get me in trouble with the law...
Over time, teachers and staff tried to accommodate my needs by letting me out of the building in advance before the alarm (which began starting on the third drill of my 1st grade year)...but at times when they did this, it was only temporary, as they TRIED to make me sit in the classroom during the alarm sooner or later in the school year, and it would make my situation worse. When I was in 6th grade, I was forced to stay in the classroom, and it was HELL...especially because the intermediate school I went to had too many false alarms triggered by careless workmen when they worked on the fire alarm system at times. To make matters worse, when I was in 8th grade, I wanted to be removed from the building before an alarm, but after the second drill, my counselor threatened me with detention and/or in-school suspension if I am ever removed and/or notified in advance again... I was forced to obey, but in order to make sure the alarm did not catch me off guard, I had to use my arms to casually hold my ears for a few minutes at the beginning of a class period so that the alarm would not penetrate my ears...but this technique did more harm than good for me, as some of my teachers were getting fed up with me doing this...
When I was in my sophomore year in high school, I actually got to help the principal set the alarm off, which further alleviated my fears...but when my senior year began, I was once again threatened with disciplinary action; this time by my case manager. Fortunately, the drills in my senior year were very seldom, so I did not have much to worry about. However, there were too many spontaneous drills at that time caused by carelessness with food and poor maintenance. The most notable ones occurred during winter mid-term exams when a faulty smoke detector was triggered on two separate days in the same week. I was fed up with standing out in the cold for a half-hour - especially on the second incident - that I literally FLIPPED OUT on the staff, forewarning them that the alarm better be fixed by the end of winter break.
The only drill where I ever voluntarily faced the alarm in the classroom was the final fire drill in April 2011. If you wish, you can watch an audio recording I made here: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCIPHK-HcE8[/youtube]
While it may have a somewhat happy ending, however, I still have a serious problem with fire alarms going off, even in college (even though they don't do drills there). Because of the disciplinary threats I faced growing up, I may have no choice but to take matters into my own hands to make sure that my kids (should I have any, and should they also have the same issue as I have) are not pressured and/or threatened into facing something they're not yet ready to face. Yes, I understand that fire safety is important, but that does not give the school the right to pressure/threaten my kids. I will teach them that eventually, the time will come when they may have to face it on their own, but whether or not they are ready is up to my kids alone, and not up to the school.
I sincerely apologize if this entire post sounded like a gigantic rant, as it was not my intention to do so, but things like this are very difficult for me to talk about...especially because it made me into who I am. But with that being said, do you have a similar story you wish to share?
15 Oct 2014, 6:37 pm
Yes, we have noise-cancelling headphones too.
