By Mia Morgado and Maryjane Donohoe
On Monday, October 29 around at about 9:50 AM at Mashpee Middle-High School, students faced a school weather shut down that is very rare for the area here in Mashpee.
An emergency tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service to every smartphone in the school leading to the entire school being called down to the gymnasium. The gym flooded with students from grades seven to twelve and the whole perimeter of the gym was lined with students sitting on the floor waiting to hear more about the situation.
On Monday, October 29 around at about 9:50 AM at Mashpee Middle-High School, students faced a school weather shut down that is very rare for the area here in Mashpee.
An emergency tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service to every smartphone in the school leading to the entire school being called down to the gymnasium. The gym flooded with students from grades seven to twelve and the whole perimeter of the gym was lined with students sitting on the floor waiting to hear more about the situation.
Principal Balestracci addressed the crowd and explained that district rules state that students and staff must come to gym if there is a tornado warning.
The time duration in which students and staff had to stay put was about a whole hour, making everyone miss period five classes. In the gym, no one seemed to be in panic, though there was some confusion and some students acting like nothing was even happening, just sitting there laughing with their friends like normal.
When asked about their thoughts on the new situation, students and staff had many similar responses. Junior Sophie Schoonmaker questioned the rule that everyone must go to the gym during a tornado warning. "We live on Cape Cod," she said, "I mean, anything’s possible, but like, really?” Sophie stated how she believed the warning and the precautions taken weren’t needed. However, unlike junior Alyssa Harris, Sophie didn’t acknowledge the staff members’ states of mind. Alyssa said, “I think it was pretty stupid, but I get that the teachers and everyone got scared and felt the need to bring everyone to the gym because of the warning issued. I wasn’t scared or anything because we’ve never had an actual tornado on Cape Cod so it didn’t worry me and I didn’t expect anything to happen. A lot of people around me were calm and didn’t really care because they know tornados aren’t common around here.”
Although the warning proved to be a waste of time, teachers have to take precautions when student safety is possibly at risk.