On Monday, November30th our school had a fire drill, in 25 degree weather. Students exited in onto the icy steps, down to the football field and into their rows for attendance.

“When I started walking outside everything seemed like a normal fire drill until teachers started pulling out trash bags,” Junior Issy Kohler said.

Recently the teacher’s safety committee decided that to keep students in their second period line, they would have students sit on the ground. The thinking was if it was wet on the ground, students can sit on trash bags.

“There were bags in the trash bins afterward. That’s such a waste of money, and it’s terrible for the environment,” senior Mikala Pratt said. Pratt is right. Plastic trash bags will not decompose in landfills. When the drill was over, most students either  threw it away or left it on the field making it unable to be used again.

“I believe that the trash bags do have their place, just not today. I believe that in a real emergency having the bags and having students stay organized will be more effective than just for a drill. I wasn’t going to make my students sit down on trash bags for just a drill. Then when I had them sit, they were down for about thirty seconds and then the administrators said it was all clear. We can’t reuse they bags because they’re all wet and 4 times bigger when opened and they don’t fit in the emergency synch bag now. I do believe the bags have a purpose, we just shouldn’t waste them for a drill, and save them for a time when we have to be outside for a longer period of time,” ASB advisor Ms. Corwin said.

After asking multiple students, they all agreed that the bags do have a place, we just need to figure out a way to use them more efficiently.