“Everyone has to evacuate the building,” she said.
A few students going outside were complaining of the cold. PHS math teacher Dwight Bequin assured the students, “Fires happen in the winter, too.”
Ratliff said this drill was primarily to check staff procedures as well as to make sure the emergency alarms systems were working properly.
Safety is high on the list of priorities for Ratliff. She is currently chairing a Safety Committee, comprised of parents, teachers, administrators, community fire and police personnel and Marshall County EMA Director Clyde Avery.
“We are reviewing the written procedures for all safety issues,” Ratliff said. “Using a committee of individuals provides several pairs of fresh eyes looking at the document.”
The emergency handbook is reviewed at the end of each school year by the school board, according to Ratliff.
“We have to look at both what is happening inside our schools and what could happen in the community that could affect the schools,” she said, adding they  are taking a close look at the area in the procedures concerning pandemics.
She indicated that the school buildings may have to be used for housing in a pandemic event.
Ratliff praised the Plymouth Fire and Police Departments and the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department for all of the assistance that they provide in emergencies and in considering emergency procedures.
She said all of the departments are very supportive when the school holds activities or events or to answer questions that arise on an every day basis. She said, “They are a wonderful support system..they are really partners.”
Ratliff said when former President Bill Clinton visited at PHS this summer, there were many agencies involved.
Ratliff said in a true emergency, all information releases would come from the school’s corporate offices. She said, “They have the resources to notify parents.”
Ratliff and Washington Elementary School Principal Michele Riise recently at-tended a conference on safety presented by the Indiana Department of Education. She said, “Mr. Tyree (superintendent) thought it was important to have training for those at the elementary  and the secondary levels.”