Doubts raised about school active-shooter drills
Districts weigh effects of training methods
Schools across the nation increasingly have introduced activeshooter training over the past two decades to the point that the practice has become nearly as universal as fire drills.
According to gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, 95% of American public schools had drilled students on some form of lockdown procedures in the event of a shooting by the 2015-16 school year.
Although the practice is widely accepted in the U.S., some have started to question the way the drills are performed, as well as their effectiveness in preventing gun violence in schools.
A white paper released in February by Everytown for Gun Safety and the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions identified concerns about active-shooter drills, noting that the drills could risk traumatizing participants. The report added that there was “scant evidence” that the training was effective at preventing deaths in school shootings.
The white paper laid out six recommendations intended to improve school safety while making active-shooter training less traumatic for students and teachers. The proposals included notifying parents, students and educators when drills are scheduled; making sure they are age-appropriate; and having them be coupled with trauma-informed approaches to address the well-being of students. The report also recommends that schools track information about the impact of the drills — including symptoms of trauma — so that they can be re-evaluated in the future.
Terri Erbacher, a certified school psychologist and board member of the Association of School Psychologists in Pennsylvania, said she supports schools notifying parents and students before an active-shooter drill. This allows parents time to speak to their children who may have had past traumas related to gun violence.
“If we don’t think about [the drills] carefully, when we’re planning them or how we’re doing them, absolutely there is a risk of traumatizing our children,” Ms. Erbacher said.
Ms. Erbacher said the most effective drills are ones that show students and faculty how to safely evacuate the building without raising stress levels or creating a fear response.
In the fall of 2018, Ms. Erbacher simulated an active-shooter drill with a trauma-informed approach and later interviewed participants to record their reactions. What Ms. Erbacher found after the drill was that students felt safe and not stressed when they were informed beforehand of a drill and knew that they were helping first responders by participating.
The Ohio-based ALICE Training Institute, which provides activeshooter training services to schools nationwide, including Pittsburgh Public Schools, said it “strongly agrees” with five of the six recommendations. The institute’s one point of contention was the idea that drills should not include simulations that mimic or appear to be an actual shooting incident.
“If you don’t practice that in the simulated situation, in that moment of stress and panic you will have nothing to reach back on,” explained Jean-Paul Guilbault, CEO of ALICE.
Trinity Area School District in Washington County has participated in ALICE training for the past five years, Superintendent Michael Lucas said.
In the summer, faculty members participate in full-day safety training that includes active-shooter drills. Police shoot blanks so that faculty members are aware of the sound of a gunshot, Mr. Lucas said. Parents also are informed of the drills, and faculty members are given the opportunity to provide input on improving the training.
Mr. Lucas said it’s important to continue practicing the drill because “no one is ever too prepared for a tragic incident.”
However, not all schools that provide some form of the training include drills with simulation guns.
When Pittsburgh Public Schools first began active-shooter training in 2017, simulation guns were used in a few schools. The district, though, quickly received negative feedback from faculty and no longer uses guns during student drills. Airsoft guns are used, however, for teachers and staff during ALICE certification training.
In the city schools, training for older students focuses largely on listening to directions coming over the public address system. A voice on the loudspeaker announces what kind of incident is occurring inside the building and where, which allows the students and teachers inside the classroom to decide how to react, whether that means evacuating or locking themselves in a room.
“It’s practice, and practice based on different situations,” said Pam Capretta, chief operations officer for the Pittsburgh Public Schools. “But yet you have the base knowledge of your building and of your surroundings. Then based on the situation that is happening, you can go ahead and react accordingly.”
In addition to no guns being used in the student drills, no loud, startling noises are made, according to Ms. Capretta.
Only middle and high school students participate in the situational training. Elementary students receive worksheets that teach them about school exits and other information.
Families are able to excuse their children from taking part in the drills in city schools.
A survivor and advocate
Stephen Weiss, a science teacher at Sunnyside PreK-8 and member of Tree of Life / Or L’Simcha Congregation, knows the value of practicing active-shooter drills as well as anyone.
Mr. Weiss used his training to evade the attacker and escape to safety during the massacre at the synagogue in 2018. Since then, he has become a proponent of activeshooter training in schools and elsewhere.
“A lot of times, we don’t know if what we’re teaching somebody really is beneficial to them,” Mr. Weiss said. “But here’s a case where we know unequivocally that it is beneficial.”
While he supports the practice in schools, he believes they should take a nuanced approach, especially for younger students.
He said a realistic simulation may be appropriate at a synagogue, when families are involved. For a school like Sunnyside, however, which has students in preschool through eighth grade, students should mostly be taught to follow directions.
“The extent of what I probably would want to see, at least at the elementary and middle school level, would be going around and checking doors so you hear a rattling of the doors, but leaving it at that,” Mr. Weiss said. “I don’t think setting off firecrackers in the hallway or somebody walking around with a gun, whether it’s real or not, is age-appropriate. Just like when we do fire drills — we don’t have smoke filling out the building during a fire drill.”
In the past few years, Mars Area School District in Butler County has offered multiple ALICE activeshooter training for all staff members.
In 2016, students in grades four through 12 also participated in a similar form of training, said the district’s director of communications, Josh Schwoebel. Parents were also given the opportunity to preview the training, Mr. Schwoebel said in an email.
Since then, the district has conducted “similar training” for all students in fifth and sixth grade. Staff members review a children’s book titled, “I’m Not Scared ... I’m Prepared,” for students in kindergarten through fourth grade.
Each month, the school holds lockdown drills. Teachers and staff members review the emergency procedures at a monthly faculty meeting.
Mr. Guilbault said ALICE recognizes that preventive services are also necessary for stopping gun violence in schools and that the training institute takes a “holistic approach.”
ALICE now provides software automation to schools that can help determine when a student is having a problem by tracking attendance records and slipping grades. If a risk is identified, a school’s threat management team can step in and create a remediation plan. The program takes into account factors such as bullying and digital civility.
The white paper from Everytown for Gun Safety, produced in partnership with the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, stresses that measures must be taken to prevent gun violence from happening at all.
The report says measures that could help include awareness campaigns, the implementation of background checks, as well as laws for individuals who pose extreme risks and secure gun storage.
In many schools, preventive measures are already an important part of the training or overall curriculum.
Michael Loughren, principal and safety coordinator of Carlynton Junior/Senior High School, said the district takes a proactive approach that includes students and community members.
Mr. Loughren said he and the assistant principal wait outside as buses arrive dropping off students at the beginning of each day. The school has an “extremely intensive” mentoring system in which students are paired with teachers, as well as peer-to-peer mentoring where older students work with younger ones, he said. The school also employs counselors, social workers and therapists.
“We emphasize inclusivity and build upon the relationships that we have with our students and the community members,” Mr. Loughren said. “We work to create an environment where kids feel safe and feel part of the community, because that’s what we value.”