Students and staff evacuated the school twice today after a system error triggered the fire alarm five times within an hour.
They were instructed to remain in the building during the last three alarms.
An email sent to the community at 11:18 a.m. stated that the alarms were caused by a system error. The Shaker Heights Fire Department responded to investigate, and students were eventually cleared to re-enter the building and resume class.
The first fire alarm occurred during third period at approximately 10:33 a.m. The second sounded shortly after staff and students re-entered the building, during fourth period, at around 10:57 a.m. Three additional alarms followed. At 11:17 a.m., a P.A. announcement made immediately after the third alarm began instructed students to disregard fire alarms and stated that a technician was working on the system.
At the time of the evacuations, the temperature was 17 degrees. Wind chill made it feel closer to 2 degrees, according to local weather data.
Senior Administrative Assistant Laurie Brem sent an email to Shaker students and staff at 11:37 a.m., stating that the regular Monday schedule would resume. “Work is being done to repair the system. We will keep you posted on the repair,” she wrote.
Assistant Principal Elizabeth Massey sent an email to faculty at 11:39 a.m. saying the issue was still being investigated. “Until the system error is resolved, a member of our maintenance team will be actively monitoring the system to ensure any alarm is not an actual emergency,” she wrote.
At 1:17 p.m., Brem sent an email to staff stating that the fire alarm system had been repaired.
Assistant Principal Logan Cawley said that when the third fire alarm activated, the fire department gave permission for students and staff to remain inside. “They told us that we do not need to evacuate the building, and to operate under the assumption that we know that there’s a faulty sensor here,” he said.
According to Cawley, the alarm system was not shut off. “The fire detector is still capable, so if there were an actual emergency somewhere else in the building, our system is able to detect it, and then report that to the necessary people,” Cawley said.
Students said the repeated evacuations were disruptive and physically difficult due to weather and building conditions. “I had to go through the snow, and the floors were slippery,” senior Ellie Fogarty said. “It was just too much.”
Senior Leela Natarajan said snow tracked into the building by returning students and staff created hazardous conditions. “I felt that it was particularly unsafe once we were back inside the building,” she said. “There was one area where we were sliding off this ramp, essentially.”
Junior Natalie Zak also said the hallways were dangerous. “The walkways and the hallways were so wet. I saw, like, four people slip,” she said.
Sophomore Varnika Takhi said the situation could have been handled more efficiently. “When the first alarm happened, I think they should have immediately sought out what’s going on, instead of just letting the second one happen, and making everybody just go outside again,” she said.
Takhi also expressed concern about student safety. “I think it was kind of irresponsible that the school has a defect in one of its alarms,” she said. “The school needs to do better with fixing such problems. I mean, some people have epilepsy, and that really could have caused a seizure,” she said.
When the alarm activates, lights flash from units labeled “FIRE,” which are installed in ceilings throughout the building. The audible alarm was discontinued after the third alarm began, but the lights continued to flash.
Junior Demi Burke said the repeated alarms caused confusion and frustration. “It’s really annoying because it’s freezing, and it’s really disruptive, because it’s happened twice now,” Burke said. “People were annoyed because it disrupted the end of class, and it was confusing whether to move with the bells or not.”
Zak said that students were frustrated during the second evacuation. “Everybody rolled their eyes,” she said. “We had just gotten warm in the classroom, and then we had to go back outside again.”
Sophomore McKenna Martin said that she initially believed the first alarms were authentic. “I thought it was real because I heard firetrucks and everything, and it was really cold to have a fire drill,” she said.
Martin also said that while some students were annoyed, others treated the situation casually. “People were just goofing off. I don’t really think there was anything to be nervous about,” she said.
Sophomore Dalia Epstein said her reactions shifted as the alarms continued. “By the third and fourth and fifth, I just kind of wanted it to be over so that I could just get back to doing my classwork,” she said.
Burke expressed concern about how the interruptions would affect learning for the rest of the day. “People aren’t going to be able to focus,” she said. “Now they’re focused on what’s happening and whether it’s going to happen again.”
Takhi said if a block schedule was still in place, it would have allowed more time for instruction after the evacuations. “We would still have a lot more time to make up for the missed instruction and work period,” she said. Classes are 45 minutes long on Mondays to accommodate weekly staff meetings.
Today was the at least the eighth instance of evacuation for a faulty alarm since 2021, according to Shakerite coverage. Students compared today’s event to the Sept. 25, 2024 incident in which the school evacuated into a heavy rain after a burst hot water pipe triggered the alarm system. During the online portion of parent-teacher conference day Oct. 21, 2022, teachers and staff evacuated the high school because a faulty sensor activated the fire alarm minutes before police chased a car-theft suspect on foot and shot him as he neared the high school’s science wing entrance. A lockdown was hastily called as the chase neared the school, and teachers and staff sought shelter inside.
Health and Yoga teacher Emily Morton said staff had to readjust plans throughout the day today. “Ninety percent of teaching is adjusting, adapting and being flexible,” she said. “There’s things you can’t control. “You just roll with punches.”
Assistant Raider Zone Editor Maizy Machmer-Wessels contributed reporting.
