We Don't Mind Studying, But Please: No Test

The yellow cookie-cutter figure, signifying a child injured in a disaster, is the closest we hope we'll ever get to the real thing at St. John's Episcopal School. And yet each year during orientation week, our school nurses, Marjorie Trujillo and Jeanne Rodriguez, walk the faculty and staff through a meticulously planned drill in which we're invited, or rather beseeched, to anticipate every possible contingency.

Supervised by our headmaster, Jim Lusby, inspection and response teams roam the campus checking for injuries and damage, while reunion teams get ready for the parents who'll be rushing to Via Con Dios virtually en masse to collect over 700 students. Marjorie and Jeanne give us a quick lesson in triage. Some of us put on vests signifying our roles (my colleagues Gerda Kilgore and Suzy Hardy are at left) and practice with walkie-talkies: "Command? This is inspection team one, over." And we pray we won't have to think about it again until next year's drill.