A short circuit in an exit light caused an evacuation at East Jessamine High School on Monday afternoon.
Assistant principal Joe Matthews was standing in the hallway outside the nurse’s office around 1 p.m. when school nurse Lori Shepherd told him smoke was coming out of her office.
“We went and checked it out to see if it was something just going on in there or what,” Matthews said. “We couldn’t figure out, so we pulled the alarm, evacuated the building, got everybody out. That’s our policy — get them out, and ask questions later.”
Most students were evacuated to the football field behind the school; some staff and students who had been in the media center evacuated to the front of the school.The Nicholasville Fire Department was dispatched to East High at 1:16 p.m.
Students were allowed to return inside the school at 2 p.m. after firefighters determined there was no present danger.
