Safety Drill at School Turns Dangerous; 8 Injured

An emergency drill at Granada Hills High School ended Tuesday morning with a real--if relatively minor--emergency, when six students and two teachers were struck by boards that fell from the roof of a building.

The injured were taken by ambulance to area hospitals. They suffered minor to moderate wounds that ranged from scraped knees to a cut scalp, administrators and witnesses said.

All the injured--six male students, a male teacher and a female teacher’s aide--had been treated and released by late afternoon.

The incident occurred about 11:40 a.m. during a drill designed to teach students what to do in case of an earthquake or other disaster. As the 3,400 students left their classrooms and marched toward a nearby athletic field, a stack of 2-inch by 10-inch boards, 15 to 20 feet long, tumbled from the roof of a low-slung classroom building.

Workers are beginning to replace the roof on much of the school, thanks to funds from Proposition BB, the $2.4-million bond fund approved by voters in April, Principal Kathleen Rattay said.