Schools should stop shooter drills and treat mental health

A few months ago, I was driving my children to school, listening to them chat with each other in the back seat. Their conversation turned to active shooter drills, and I listened as my sweet 6-year-old daughter described practicing hiding from an intruder to prepare for the all-too-real possibility that her life will one day depend on her ability to hide and stay quiet.

It broke my heart to hear that my innocent first grader — who regularly informs me that unicorns are real, still sleeps with a pile of stuffed animals, and thinks tutus and sparkles make any outfit better — has her school days interrupted by active shooter drills when they should instead be filled by learning to read, practicing her artistic skills and enjoying recess on the playground.

Over the last several years, school shootings have become an all-too-common occurrence in American schools. In an effort to curb the devastating injuries that occur during these incidents, many U.S. schools have implemented “active shooter drills.” Similar to fire drills, the idea is that if students can practice what to do in a high-stress situation in a controlled way, then they will be prepared to act if the situation ever actually occurs.

Unfortunately, there is very little evidence to support that this is actually what happens — and, even more unfortunate, active shooter drills have a detrimental mental health impact on students. One study found a 42% increase in anxiety and a 39% increase in depression in the months following an active shooter drill. While some schools simply practice staying quiet and hiding in a classroom, others implement intense simulations, complete with sounds of gunfire, toy guns, and/or people in the hallways firing blank rounds from a gun.

A majority of students who go through these drills said that they felt “unsafe, scared, helpless, or sad” because of the drills.

While active shooter drills may not be effective at keeping students safe in school, there are evidence-based ways that schools can work to keep kids safe during the day. Things like increased access to in-school mental health services and regular threat assessments are ways that school administrators can keep their students safe without the mental health impacts that active shooter drills have on many students.

As a future physician, I encourage those caring for children to do things in an evidence-based way — whether that is my colleagues caring for children in clinics or teachers and school administrators taking care of kids during the school day. I urge educators and policymakers to consider the impact that active shooter drills have on students and to consider implementing improved access to mental health services and threat assessments to make kids safer, happier, and healthier.

Jara Alvarez-Del-Pino is a fourthyear medical student in Indiana and mother of three.

TOM HAWLEY/THE MONROE NEWS Sheriff Liaison Officer Michael Stahl leads sheriff’s deputy Alec Predmore and others up the stairs during an active shooter drill at Monroe High School in Monroe, Michigan, on Aug. 22.