Tornado Warning procedures in schools

[MARSAUTOSIREN]

Here, they tell you over intercom(cause you cant hear even a firetruck in the school) and sound a continuous signal or "alert" of the electronic bell. Then we all go into the Hall and do the crouch thing. complicated.

[Ziginox]

I'm so glad our college only does fire drills. A tornado drill in Windsor is a complete waste of time. We had to put up with em in high school.

My school only does fire drills and lockdown drills. I think there have been less than 50 tornadoes recorded in Idaho, so. For fire alarms they use (of course) fire alarm set to code 3. Back in middle school they would use a hilo sound over the PA system for a lockdown (i.e. shut off lights, lock doors, close and cover windows, hide.) Now they announce it.

[Notre.Dame1003]

Our school makes an announcement, then plays a HI/LO tone over the fire alarm system. We just had to do this the other day, and they waited 1/2 hour after the 2001 across the street activated to do this.

[r4tbolts]

KASM, why do they cover the windows on a lockdown? It would seem that practice would hinder the Police to see what was going on within the building in a hostage situation

[Notre.Dame1003]

We do the same thing... I guess because a lockdown is "a suspicious person on school grounds" mabye so the "intruder" won't see people in the window. Wouldn't make sense if he was already in the building though.

[AQHort]

Unfortunately I don't know if my school has a tornado warning procedure. I don't even know where we would all go being that most of the classrooms have windows and we don't have traditional desks. However in my Middle school the principal would announce if there was a tornado or tornado drill. In elementary school, the school bell well sound in blasts of three, similar to how the fire alarm sounded. Then we would go to our designated spots. We only had one real tornado warning in elementary school, while I was in 5th grade. Talk about scary.

[Jared H]

and this year for our drill, I had to go into the girl's bathroom!

Oh,brother! i am Sure that was humiliating.

[GentexSS]

I am sorry for bumping this topic from 2011.
Let me add a little bit:

In my 1st Elementary School (Pre-K 1998-1999, remainder of 1999-2000, and 2000-2001):
[*]They would sound a (probably a few) long blast(s) on their school bell (1250 hz sine wave tone) through the intercom. We took shelter in the teacher's office and sat on the floor.
In my 2nd Elementary School (Pre-K August/September/October 1999):
[*]I think the sounded a High/Low Tone through the PA System, but I do not recall if they did. We all went into a center room and ducked and covered.
In my 1st Elementary School (Kindergarten and 1st Grade; 2001-2003):
[*]The principal would make an announcement through the intercom, we would either get under the desks or move into an interior windowless room and do duck and cover.
In my 3rd Elementary School (2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grades; 2003-2007):
[*]During a Watch: The principal would announce a Code Green Watch; classes into portables would move to their assigned areas, classes continue as normal.
[*]During a Warning: The principal would announce a Code Green Warning; we would, depending on the location at the time, either duck and cover against the interior walls or under the desks, or evacuate to the hallway or center room and duck and cover.
In my Middle School (2007-2010):
[*]An administrator would announce that the school was under a Code Green. Shelter area depends on building at the time. Classes in buildings 3, 4, & 6 would relocate to the hallway. Classes in all other buildings would relocate to a small interior closet or windowless room. People in cafetorium relocated to stage area.
In my current high school (2010-Present):
[*]An announcement would be made over PA System. Depending on classroom you are in, we would relocate either to a designated hallway or get against the interior wall. Portables were relocated to different rooms in the main building.

In any case, the all clear signal is either an announcement or the ringing of the bell system.

[Urbanexplorer]

Northern Kentucky University has students on campus go to the ground floor of whatever building they are in. A few friends of mine were stuck in the basement of the library when a tornado warning was announced.

[Chicagosirenhunters]

At Plainfield South High School they blare an "ATI style" pulse though the speakers that scares the heck out of me.