But Tuesday morning, it wasn’t for practice. School officials evacuated the building because of the discovery of an unknown substance within the building.

“We received a shipment of a couple of computer monitors,” said assistant principal Tammie George. “When our computer tech, Jim Moody, was opening the boxes, there was some kind of a liquid and when he touched it, it created kind of a burning sensation.”

Moody followed the district’s procedure for a chemical spill and alerted school officials.

“We found out it was just a chemical from the monitor itself,” George said. “We took the necessary precaution to remove students from that wing of the building and then evacuated the entire building for a short period of time.”

When the liquid was discovered, the monitor was in a box in the technology closet, near the school’s north gym, George said.

The evacuation was just for precaution, George said. “No one was injured,” she added.

The evacuation came at about 10:30 a.m., and under sunny skies and in mid-70s temperature, students — all 800 or so of them — appeared to be enjoying the break.

Students who had been lunching in the cafeteria even brought food with them to the playground, where they finished their meal. Others made a trip back to the cafeteria after the evacuation to have their lunch.

All in all, George said, the evacuation took about 30 minutes out of the school day.

And, for administrators, it took more time than that. Principal Jerry Daskoski dealt with television reporters as news helicopters circled the city. That afternoon Daskoski penned an explanatory letter for students to take home to their parents.

Meanwhile, George said the experience of running through a disaster drill was a chance to see how things could work in the event of an unexpected emergency.

“Different people have taken on different responsibilities to make sure things run smoothly,” George said. “Just as in our drill, the kids and staff just did an excellent job.”