Los Altos High School has dealt with sporadic false fire alarms which have persisted for nearly two years, Los Altos High Assistant Principal Nicolas Betancur said. The false alarms have been caused by technical issues relating to construction and the pre-alarm system, according to Betancur.

The administration is currently working to resolve the issues by collaborating with the district office to stop sporadic alarms and prioritizing reenabling the pre-alarm, which alerts the school administrators of any potential issue before a school-wide alarm, Betancur said. In the meantime, the school faculty advises students to stay calm during false alarms.

“Ultimately, students should be taking the lead from whatever staff member they’re with,” Betancur said. “If the alarm goes off, and we come on the PA and say, ‘evacuate,’ we’re trusting that students are going to take that seriously.”

For several Los Altos High students, including junior Frankie Bengston, the fire alarms can be disruptive during class time, but are typically not too bothersome.

“There were a couple [of] times where I was taking a test and [the fire alarm] just went off,” Bengston said. “And there was one [time] when it continuously went off in one period, which was a little annoying. But otherwise, I don’t really care all that much.”