Page 34 - spaces4learning, Spring 2021

spaces4learning K-12
PREPARING TEACHERS AND STAFF FOR AN ACTIVE SHOOTER EVENT
Adults, not students, should bear responsibility for controlling the situation.
By Robert Kravitz
ACCORDING TO THE Department of Education's National Cen- ter for Educational Statistics, nearly every school in the country now conducts lockdown drills to prepare students for an active shooter on campus. For the most part, law enforcement agencies highly en- dorse these training programs. They claim that when an incident occurs, the students’ training helps them secure the school; stop the active shooter; and protect stu-
for safety, hide, call 911 if possible, and—as a last resort—to fight. As to fighting, the program calls for those in harm's way to “attempt to disable the attacker,” “be aggressive and commit to your actions,” “recruit others to ambush the attacker” and “be prepared to cause severe or lethal injury to the attacker.”
Such instruction in a crisis is possibly good advice to a fully grown, healthy adult. But is this good advice to give 10-year- old children? Probably not.
Worse, many psychologists, educators, and parents now suggest that such drills and training cause considerable student anxiety, depression and fear, and can impair the entire learning experience.
“The best way to make schools safer is to focus on proven policies and programs instead of extreme drills that rob children of their belief that schools are extremely safe places,” said Shan- non Watts, founder of gun safety
group Moms Demand Action. Further, some now suggest that drills involving children should take a back seat to drills that fo- cus primarily on the adults work- ing in schools. These drills would instruct teachers, for instance, on how to handle a potentially dan- gerous situation—such as an ac-
tive shooter in the building.
The assumption is that when the adults remain calm and know what steps to take to protect them- selves and their students, “the children will literally reflect that emo- tional state and follow through with whatever they are asked to do,”
said Bruce D. Perry, founder of the ChildTrauma Academy.
He also believes that scare tactics, which are a key part of many
dents, teachers and staff.
These drills and sets of in-
structions on what to do in an emergency have been provided or created by several different orga- nizations during the past 10–15 years. They are often modeled on instructions given to adults in an emergency. However, all too often, they have little to do with schools, students or school safety.
For instance, one drill that is
available from Ready.gov, a U.S.
government national public ser-
vice campaign, is referred to as
“Run, Hide, Fight.” This drill was created for adults, not stu- dents, and its focus is on workplace violence, not school violence.
In “Run, Hide, Fight,” if workers believe an attack is hap- pening or about to happen, they are advised to stay alert, run
THE BEST WAY TO MAKE SCHOOLS SAFER IS TO FOCUS ON PROVEN POLICIES AND PROGRAMS INSTEAD OF EXTREME DRILLS THAT ROB CHILDREN OF THEIR BELIEF THAT SCHOOLS ARE EXTREMELY SAFE PLACES.
34 SPRING 2021 | spaces4learning.com