LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — It’s Severe Weather Awareness Week, and schools in Lexington participated in the annual Kentucky Statewide Tornado Drill that took place on Friday.
At Coventry Oak Elementary School, the drill briefly interrupted pajama day, part of Read Across America Week.
“We dressed up on different days and we every day we have like stop drop and read day,” said third grader Callie Lawrence, who is also on the student council.
The drill this week was initially scheduled for Wednesday, but midweek storms pushed the date to Friday. At exactly 10:07 a.m., a voice instructed teachers and students to get into position for the severe weather drill.
“This is pretty routine for us. We practice drills monthly,” said Michelle Grant, principal at Coventry Oak.
“We all remember stop, drop and roll right? That started in elementary school,” Emily Fay with Lexington Emergency Management said. “The same concept applies tornado drill. You hear the sirens, you see the weather, you see the clouds, you go ahead and become safe.”
With all the practice students receive, today’s drill only took about six minutes.
“Super proud of how our students did today,” Grant said. “We are proudly the largest elementary school in Fayette County, and I happily say that because we had about 800 kids participating in our drill today and they did just a phenomenal job.”
While these drills are regular at Coventry Oak, the statewide emphasis is important as we move into warmer seasons when severe weather is more likely.
“I've been as an administrator I've been on the receiving end of having an emergency in a building,” Grant shared. “It's important for me because our top priority is keeping kids safe at all times, um, and it the practice just helps us be prepared in in case there is an emergency.”
“It's important to do it every year because it's good to practice if there was a real one,” Lawrence added.
