A tornado alarm had students and staff at Sir John Moore Community School in Corunna taking cover Wednesday afternoon.
Lambton Kent District School Board Superintendent of Education Gary Girardi says the action was taken after the warning system sounded in the office and sirens sounded in town.
"Our process for that is simple," says Girardi. "If the warning goes off, we move into our protocol. That occurred just after 1pm and an all clear was issued by 1:15pm and we moved out of that protocol."
Students were told the alarm was not a drill and ushered into the hallway where they were asked to sit on the floor and cover their head with their hands and arms.
"We sent a letter home to inform parents that we did that and are following up with the fire marshal to assess the process and whether things went well and where we can potentially improve things." says Girardi.
The Alert FM system warns residents in both St. Clair Township and St. Clair County in Michigan of threatening weather and industrial incidents.
While there were no tornado warnings issued by Environment Canada Wednesday, a statewide tornado drill was conducted across the St. Clair River in Michigan that day.
The alert system was the first to incorporate both Canadian and American information when it was unveiled in 2011.