Pulled alarm, locked gates, and police presence : March 1 at MCHS

Students and staff wait for the gates to be unlocked in order to evacuate to the football field (Rosemary Cromwell, The Puma Prensa)

By Rosemary Cromwell, editor, Emerson Parker, news editor, and, Sophia Hughes, web editor

A fire alarm was pulled in the women’s locker room at Maria Carrillo High School at approximately 10:15 a.m. on March 1. Once students were evacuated to the football field and attendance was taken, students went to their third period classes without a break. But that was not the only threat to student safety at Carrillo on Wednesday.

At 10:47, in an incident that did not seem to be related, police apprehended a Carrillo student who was suspected of possessing a firearm, although he did not have a firearm when he was taken into custody. Earlier in the morning, there were rumors of someone bringing a gun to campus. After the arrest, police then conducted three searches over the next 24 hours: the first on campus immediately after the arrest; the second, also on campus, sometime during the night of March 1, and the third and final one in the surrounding area the morning of March 2. That third search on Thursday did turn up a weapon. Police “located a gun that was discarded in a storm drain away from campus” that had allegedly been in a student’s possession, wrote MCHS Principal Monique Luke in an email sent Thursday afternoon. Luke thanked the students that had provided the information, writing, “their actions helped to keep our schools and the surrounding area safe.”

The Wednesday fire alarm and subsequent call to evacuate frustrated and concerned many students, especially because this alarm is the third emergency they have had to deal with in three weeks. “If this happens another week in a row I don’t know whether to take these alarms seriously or not,” said senior Ellie Acosta.

“The number of hoax alarms and lockdowns, as well as one legitimate fire [causing an evacuation during fifth period on Thursday, Feb. 23], has made the alarms so routine that I think people are becoming desensitized to these alarms and—if there were to be a real active shooter situation, or a real fire, or any real emergency—I think people won’t know how to react given that now it's being treated more as a regularity rather than a once in a while emergency,” said Sean Nash, senior. 

When hearing the Wednesday fire alarm, many students were hesitant to evacuate, suspecting what turned out to be true, that it was a false alarm. After three alarms in recent days, some people were hesitant to evacuate immediately. Students and even some staff paused until the automatic fire alarm and flashing strobes stopped and the more instructive evacuation order came over loudspeakers. Then they grabbed their belongings and finally headed to the field.

For many students, this incident raises concerns about future alarms, false or not, for yet another reason. After students evacuated to the field on Wednesday, they were blocked by two sets of locked gates barring their entry, causing a massive pileup of students.

The mental toll these false alarms, in addition to the fatal stabbing at Montgomery High School, have had on Maria Carrillo’s student body has been swift and severe.

“I literally do not feel safe at school anymore,” said Acosta. “We haven’t learned how to communicate and that’s f------ up regardless of if this is a rumor or not,” said Carrillo senior Bella Zarate. “I am f------ terrified for my life.”