This is a drill

If preparedness can save lives, and we know that it can, Connecticut and its towns are striving to be ready by continually reviewing and updating their plans for how to react if the unthinkable happens at school.

I t is heartening, even if it is also heart-stopping, to see the seriousness and professionalism with which schools and law enforcement are meeting the dire challenges of an attacker in a school.

If preparedness can save lives, and we know that it can, Connecticut and its towns are striving to be ready by continually reviewing and updating their plans for how to react if the unthinkable happens.

Schools have centuries of experience in holding drills — for fire, tornadoes, nuclear attacks and bomb scares. All drills have the same pyramid of responsibility: At the base is the classroom, where the teacher leads students in a rehearsed response. That could be leaving the building silently and in lines or sheltering under desks behind locked doors, depending on what the emergency is. It requires practice and consistency and is not, normally, the time for innovation.

Next higher up is the administration, with the vital role of providing two-way communications between the teachers and the people who take charge, the first responders. Principals and superintendents have to convey the directives of police and fire officials to their staff, most especially to teachers who are sheltering in place with their classes. They may also be the ones to share with police what is happening in parts of the building, as reported to them by text or phone calls from inside. The one sure thing is that unforeseen things will happen.

Everything done by each of these layers of adults has the purpose of keeping students safe, first, and calm, second. But in an emergency, chaos is always ready to erupt. A scary sound in the hallway, a student who thinks it’s funny, maybe out of sheer nervousness, to yell a fake warning — anything like that is the equivalent of yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater.

Parents and students will also be texting, which is a good thing for a frightened child. But scared children scare their parents, and multiplied by the number of cellphones in the school, the information that gets out is fragmented. Confusion at the scene is inevitable.

The ongoing discussions at local school board meetings about whether to arm security guards or staff each school with a resource officer, and such policies as Groton’s new practice of having every patrol officer drop by a school on school days, show how many roles are involved in protecting schools, students and staff. In contrast to the idea of arming teachers, it becomes clear that teachers are already filling a role that really only they can, and must.

Teachers spend every day with the children or teenagers in their classrooms, forging relationships that may not always be easygoing but inherently offer stability and some level of trust. Children are used to them. They are the best ones to reassure children when parents are out of reach, and to keep the mood as calm as possible. They can’t do that and wave a gun at the same time.

For officers who must innovate constantly at the scene, responding to reports from different parts of the building, inside and out, the ability to make quick decisions depends on good information, including accurate reports on where students are sheltered. Teachers play a key role in real-time reporting.

Connecticut law requires school boards to have a school safety committee, assess each school every two years for security and vulnerability, and file an annual safety and security plan with the state. Every time a school holds a drill, there is an opportunity and an obligation to debrief and identify the weak spots.

Adults wonder whether the need for constant vigilance is harming today’s students. Perhaps they will grow up with unpleasant memories of the days when they had to practice sheltering in place. But if they also remember that their teacher and principal and police officers kept them safe, they will be okay. That will be worth all the training and planning we can do.