Manteca High School finds peace from fire alarms

By SAFFRON BLAND
The Tower 

In recent months, Manteca High School has seemingly had less frequent amount of fire alarms, marking a notable change in the school's safety and security measures. This decrease in fire drills has made many students, staff, and administrators happy and comfortable in their learning environment. 

Over many years, there has been many ringing false-alarm fire alarms at Manteca High. This causes classes to get disrupted, forcing unnecessary evacuations, and often resulting in students and teachers having less time to teach and learn. The alarms going off could cause stress for the students and teachers because they don’t know if it is a real fire or not. 

When there is a fire drill, firefighters must arrive at the high school no matter the case, whether it be students caught smoking in the restroom, someone pulling the fire alarm, or a real fire. Staff have been educated in proper fire safety protocols, especially if they are in a class that is involved with chemicals or fire. On top of that, there has been teamwork between Manteca High’s admin and teachers to address the issue of student smoking on campus. Through this effort and proactive measures, such as increased patrols and surveillance that have been implemented to deter students from engaging in smoking related activities during school hours.  

The decline in fire alarms at Manteca High has not only improved the overall learning environment but has also promoted a feeling of security and peace of mind for students and staff. With less disruptions and distractions, students can better focus on their class, and teachers can get the most use out of their learning time without unnecessary interruptions.

Deborah Chavez, Manteca High’s vice principal, goes on to state: “Their learning like, they're usually in the middle of a lesson and it's frustrating you got to leave or sometimes students don't leave but it's really loud and obnoxious and we can't continue to teach other through that, so we definitely want to eliminate them as much as possible.” 

While progress has been made in addressing the issue of student smoking at Manteca High there is still work to be done to fully get rid of the problem to make sure the campus is a safe and healthy learning environment for all with continued enforcement of policies, these efforts can keep reducing the risk of fire alarm caused by students smoking. By remaining committed to fire safety responsibility and awareness, Manteca High can ensure a safer and better learning environment for all. 

The recent decrease in fire alarms at Manteca High School shows a positive step forward for safety and security at Manteca High.  

Catching students vaping and smoking has been a challenge over the years. However, staff and administrators have doubled down on their protocols when it comes to fire alarms. Pursuing these actions to help the safety and comfort of the students and staff is important. Campus monitor Lisa Mendez explains what they have contributed to the decrease in fire alarms by stating: “We keep a better eye on the bathrooms and make sure that we don't let a bunch of students all at once go in there. Also, we periodically check the bathrooms to make sure nothing is going on.”