Active shooter drill at elementary school

[Daniel87]

Maybe instead of training kids and teachers how to hide they should hold a drill where they teach the teachers how to handle weapons and respond accordingly if anyone unlawfully enters the school with intention of doing harm to any children.

and change the signs out front that read "gun free zone" to

 

[smokey]

Well crafted argument. You have (mostly) won me over to the idea of herding children behind barriers if something happens, but not to the sanity of making kids practice for something so specific and unlikely, scaring and scarring them in the process.

It creates a culture of fear that will do nothing but draw society down.

The goal of the drill should not be to frighten or to be so specific as to mention the active shooter to the kids. It should be a matter of fact operation that occurs and the kids should be made aware of their responsibilities. The lock down procedure is used for a variety of reasons, not just for an active shooter scenario. By limiting the scope of the drill to that scenario, it makes it less meaningful. The lockdown is used for an active shooter, there does not have to be an active shooter for a lockdown to be used. I typically just explain that the lockdown is used when our classroom is the safest place to be, that doors are locked to keep us in a safe place and to keep dangerous things away from us. A broad thematic explanation like that makes sense to the kids and justifies the drill in their minds while not institutionalizing them that guns are a threat to them and that they need to be in constant fear of a mass shooter.

On a personal note, I personally believe kids should be made aware of dangers in the world so that they are more prepared to deal with them if they ever encounter them. As a professional, I leave that teaching up to the parents and focus on my content area. As a guy getting ready to get married and begin a family, it's something I will teach to my kids. As with most things taught, there is a proper way to teach to enable the kid...and an improper way to teach that will disable the kid.

I'd like more information on how the drill was implemented before making a judgment on what happened. I haven't yet seen a drill so specific as to mention an exact scenario during a lockdown, shelter in place, or duck-cover-hold. Fire drills are inherently pretty specific to a fire taking place, but we tell the kids the drill is used anytime the school is a more dangerous place to be than outside. I have been in some mock-emergencies at schools where we act out a VERY specific scenario(one was a tanker truck carrying chlorine toppled over and broke open in front of the school at my old school), but those take place on professional development days to prepare the staff and stress the emergency response without students present.

In this instance, it may have just been a teacher that went overboard and chose the wrong words to describe why the drill was taking place. If it was an actual simulated active shooter drill, then I'd be surprised community communication didn't happen prior to the drill and that was a failure on the administrative side. The admin should know the community and know when the community would appreciate a heads up on things like this. Something to do may be to spark up a friendly conversation with the teacher and see what they have to say about it. You may be able to get them to get you a heads up before the next couple drills so you can better prepare your kid for it.

 

[Antlers09]

I don't see why parents should be notified. Drills have been routine in schools for as long as I can remember. The purpose of the drill is to make sure the students know how to respond if the alarm goes off. When we pull the alarm, the kids have no idea if its real or a drill and that's how it should be...it keeps them safer IMHO.

It sounds like the OP's kids' school had a routine lockdown drill. Kids ask a lot of questions about those kinds of drills because they don't exit the building and it really depends on what the teacher tells them. They close windows, shut and lock doors, get on the floor against the wall, etc so kids want an explanation. I've always explained that it could be because of anything unwelcome in the building, like a person, an animal, etc.

 

[MonkeyPunch]

Then there is the insanity of having everyone 'hide in a closet' if there is an active shooter. Lets all group together in a space that does not afford us room to move or run! That sounds like a great idea. Anyone ever hear that expression about fish in a barrel?

This point has already been answered by smokey, but there is something I'd like to add to each side of the comment.

First, there is a difference between barricading oneself and one's students into a classroom and doing so in a school closet. Janitor closets are very small and are generally the size of the door; this means that any rounds fired into the closet would penetrate the door and hit whomever was on the other side of it. In this sense, a closet is a poor choice if the gunman knew there were people inside.

On the other hand, barricades have been proven to discourage attack (seeks easier targets) - as seen most recently in the Navy Yard Shootings. Smokey covered the benefits of an entire school following the approach - minimize casualties by reducing the gunman's access to fast targets.

I'd like more information on how the drill was implemented before making a judgment on what happened. I haven't yet seen a drill so specific as to mention an exact scenario during a lockdown, shelter in place, or duck-cover-hold. Fire drills are inherently pretty specific to a fire taking place, but we tell the kids the drill is used anytime the school is a more dangerous place to be than outside. I have been in some mock-emergencies at schools where we act out a VERY specific scenario(one was a tanker truck carrying chlorine toppled over and broke open in front of the school at my old school), but those take place on professional development days to prepare the staff and stress the emergency response without students present.

At least in MoCo, we had "active shooter drills" and real-life implementations of said drills in HS as early as 2002; they were called "code blue" and "code red" drills. If I remember correctly, "code blue" drills were to clear the halls and lock the doors, although classes would continue as normal; students outside of their classroom were given detention. "Class red" drills required the same as a "code blue", but the teachers would stop class, turn off the lights, and we students would have to be quiet and move away from the door. I think they would do maybe 1 type of each drill per semester. We did have at least two real-life occasions to use said drills, although they were because of an active shooting in the general area.

 

[Name Taken]

You guys are really great.

No matter what the government does it's not good enough.

If they don't practice any kind of drills they are SOB's for being unprepared.

When they do practice and likely a 20 nothing teacher explains the "lock down" drill by stating "we are hiding from a bad guy" we get our shorts in a bunch. I ask you this...if you had to explain to a 5 year old what a "lock down" drill was how exactly would you explain it?

I guess during the Cold War hiding under your desk seemed "shocking" and "startling" and every school system should have notified the parents first.

Want more control...home school or private school them.

It's as important for the kids to practice as it is for the staff.

Maybe a 20 nothing year old teacher or assistant didn't explain it well but I see no harm in practicing for these type of things. And in fact you should likely be practicing these events with your kids in public when they are with you. Or at least talk about "what if's" and "what to do" once they are at an age to understand.

 

[River Mud]

Well crafted argument. You have (mostly) won me over to the idea of herding children behind barriers if something happens, but not to the sanity of making kids practice for something so specific and unlikely, scaring and scarring them in the process.

It creates a culture of fear that will do nothing but draw society down.

We are already there with a "culture of fear." I think I'll take it, sadly, over the prevailing, "Culture of Pretending We Can Control Evil People With Laws."

I do environmental cleanup for a living, and was working at a school in AA County where part of the final landscaping has to involve two protected escape routes off of the property. Additional details withheld on purpose, though they are fascinating details that make a lot of tactical sense. Having grown up in the country, it felt weird but right that *someone* is thinking about this stuff. I'm a father and I'd prefer that my son's school has "a plan of some kind" and that it's well practiced and well orchestrated. Even if I don't agree with the plan itself.

 

[Polecat]

Well crafted argument. You have (mostly) won me over to the idea of herding children behind barriers if something happens, but not to the sanity of making kids practice for something so specific and unlikely, scaring and scarring them in the process.

It creates a culture of fear that will do nothing but draw society down.

What is so different than the "duck and cover" drills of the 50's?

 

[pbharvey]

I'm all for preparedness.
What upsets me is the gap between the written plan, the practiced plan, and the SHTF implementation.

For example, years ago everyone was jacked up over the Anthrax scare. Between that and other fears of biological/chemical terrorist attacks we got this:
http://www.hcpss.org/aboutus/emergency.shtml

Shelter in Place

An announcement is made by runner or over the public address system: "Your attention please. Shelter in place (pause). Shelter in place (pause). Shelter in place." If the situation allows, an announcement regarding the nature of the emergency is made over the public address system.
All staff and students report to assigned classrooms as quickly as possible.
Students and staff in relocatable classrooms move immediately into the main building.
Doors and windows are shut immediately.
All students and staff are accounted for.
If incident warrants, tape is placed around doors, windows, and vents; and wet towels are placed at the bottom of doors.
The HVAC system is shut off.
A "Sheltering-in-Place" sign is placed on the outside of the main door.
Students and staff stand by until given directions by school command or emergency responders (police/fire and rescue personnel).

OK so tell me where the tape and towels are located? How about the ladders required to reach taping around the windows and vents? How about on the next professional day we give each teacher a case of tape and see how long it takes them either run out of tape or run out of areas they can reach.
In my child's high school there are probably a few dozen PhD's and I highly doubt any of them know how to shut off the HVAC system for the entire school building.

We're fooling ourselves to make plans like this that are physically impossible to implement.

 

[Mr H]

What is so different than the "duck and cover" drills of the 50's?

As long as the seating chart was correct, they knew which kid they were sweeping up.

 

[DEX]

This was a hot subject in my house for a week or so. My wife works for a state agency that requires her to visit schools in her county but the staff at the agency has never been warned that schools have started doing these drills. Earlier in the year, while my wife was 5 months pregnant, she was walking into a school when one of these drills started. She got part way down a hallway before she was grabbed by a teacher and manhandled/pushed into a supply closet that had 3 other people, of whom she never met, in it. She was given no explanation or reason for this until the all clear was announced sometime later. She did all she could to convince me not to strike down with the hand of god on that school and the county, and state, school boards....

 

[possumman]

I told my kids- all grown now- to get the H out of Dodge if this kind of situation ever happened where they were- one of mine works in DC most days and he thinks that is still good advice whether he is on the train - the subway station or any building in DC.