A system malfunction caused K-Park’s fire alarm to go off shortly before the start of the school day on Feb. 24, resulting in mild confusion among students just arriving to campus.

Many were unaware of any procedure of what to do when the fire alarm goes off when they are not in a class period. The students and staff gathered in small groups across the parking lots or stayed in their cars. Rap music played on several portable speakers. The scene was jovial and many students were hopeful that they’d be missing a lot of school.

The staff was also unsure about was going on. When asked if he thought the building was in danger, K-Park Physics teacher Glenn Taylor said “I hope not, my car keys are still in there!”

Senior Aedden Arnold had to stop his car at the entrance to the drop-off lane on the north side of the school after he arrived and saw the large mass of people blocking the way to his parking spot. He sat with his car still running, saying he wasn’t sure if it would turn back on if he turned the engine off.

However, at 7:38 a.m., everyone began to make their way back inside and to first period. An obviously frustrated Julie Payne, K-Park pre-cal teacher, began to rush through her lesson on logarithmic functions with only 25 minutes left in class.

“Please, don’t take any more class time,” Payne said when associate principal Brian Johnson came on the loudspeaker.

Johnson informed students that they had 30 seconds to be in class before they were counted as tardy, and explained  that the alarm had been caused by an issue with the school’s fire panel. He warned that the alarm may go off several more times during the day.