Odds and Ends: Screaming Sirens or Soft Speech?

Students discuss their opinion on the new fire alarm.

by Ally Kelley, Multimedia Editor

November 6, 2023

Around 2,400 students sit in their classes. Around 2,400 students hear the monthly announcement, made by Principal Andrew Abner. Around 2,400 students prepare to hear the same fire alarm they’ve always heard. The loud, sharp, blaring noise that would wake up anyone who had fallen asleep.

Then, suddenly, around 2,400 students hear a different noise play.

It’s softer, quieter, with a female voice repeating “please evacuate the building. There is a fire emergency.”

Students like Harpe Bezemick Agulair ‘26 began to wonder, why did it change?

Behind the Bond

What the 2018 bond was and how it affected the fire alarm:

In 2018, a bond voted on in the Douglas County School District was passed to enhance safety and security systems. One of these systems was the fire alarm system, changing it from a loud alarm to a quieter one.

“In an ideal world, we like to change these about every 15 years, but, as you know, funding dictates whether or not this can happen. More times than not, these systems go well beyond the time frame,” Principal Andrew Abner said.

Because the fire alarm system changed, the sound of the alarm changed as well.

When a fire alarm goes off, School Resource Officers (SROs) go throughout the building checking for intruders or threats other than fires while students go into lockdown, waiting for the all-clear to exit the building. If the SROs do not find other threats, students and staff can leave the building. Thus, the new fire alarm has no change in safety as the old one, as there is staff to protect those inside the building.

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