<p>When a fire alarm goes off in your child’s school, state law says that officials can decide to wait up to three minutes before having students leave the building.</p>
<p>But whether all schools are following that newly allowed procedure has not yet been decided.</p>
<p>The practice was added into state law after recent mass shootings where the shooters have used fire alarms to lure people out of the building to be killed, including in a school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida earlier this year.</p>
<p>State lawmakers approved allowing schools to choose to wait up to three minutes to determine what caused the fire alarm to go off and whether evacuating the building is safe.</p>
<p>At Nineveh-Hensley-Jackson schools, officials do plan to have students practice using the delay, Superintendent Tim Edsell said.</p>
<p>A delay allows teachers and officials to check out hallways and the inside and outside of buildings to make sure those are safe before evacuating, Edsell said.</p>
<p>“It’s really unfortunate that has been a method used by perpetrators to fill out their plan to hurt kids, so that causes us to change our plans,” Edsell said.</p>
<p>The change is something school officials discussed over the summer. At Center Grove, officials worked with the fire department on what would be best.</p>
<p>White River Township Fire Department Chief Jeremy Pell understands the reason behind the change, but he also knows why schools started doing fire drills — after school fires years ago killed children, he said.</p>
<p>“This is where we are. One hundred years ago, we were saying how do we keep fire from hurting our kids? Today, it’s how do we stop someone with a mental problem or who is just evil from hurting our kids?” Pell said.</p>
<p>For decades, the message has been to get out as fast as you can when the fire alarm goes off, and changing that raises concerns, Center Grove Assistant Superintendent Bill Long said.</p>
<p>That’s why school officials have been talking to fire officials about the change, and how it should be handled, Long said.</p>
<p>They are working together to implement the change into their response plans, Pell said. And state officials are doing the same, and are expected to also have recommendations.</p>
<p>The main idea is to be aware of what’s going on around you, he said.</p>
<p>“The new normal is being situationally aware. We need to be aware of our surroundings,” Pell said.</p>
