Good riddance to unannounced drills in Seminole County schools

It’s hard to imagine the terror of believing a gunman might be stalking the hallways of your school, looking for targets.

Until recently, that’s what might have been going through the minds of Seminole County students and faculty during unannounced “code red” drills, which cover a broad category of threats that include an armed intruder inside a school.

The drills had good intentions: to simulate the scenario of a possible gunman in schools so everyone could practice what to do if that really happened. Alert the teachers. Lock classroom doors. Hide. Be quiet.

The difference between announcing a drill and not announcing, however, is knowing or not knowing whether there really could be a killer on the loose.

Without advance notice, students and teachers in Seminole County would huddle in classrooms, possibly thinking the threat was real. Even if the drill lasted only a few minutes, those minutes could be filled with lingering terror and dread for some.

After the chaos at Lake Brantley High School earlier this month on the day of an unannounced drill, law enforcement and school district officials decided to make some changes. Most important, they’ll start letting everyone — parents, teachers, students and administrators — know that a drill is underway the moment it begins.

Smart move, and overdue. Now other Central Florida districts that still conduct unannounced drills, including Osceola and Brevard, need to do the same.

The National Association of School Psychologists has concluded that unannounced drills are an awful idea.

For starters, people don’t learn well when they’re under intense stress, according to NASP.

Frightened people might follow their instincts, said Kathy Cowan, director of communications for the organization. And fight or flight might not be the best response.

She’s the co-author of a report, done in partnership with the National Association of School Resource Officers, that outlined best practices for school drills.

Unannounced drills, she said, are not a best practice. In fact, they risk traumatizing students — particularly special-needs students — who might be in genuine fear for their lives.

There’s nothing snowflakey about trying to shield schoolkids from that kind of potential trauma.

Murder in schools, while still statistically rare, is all too real for kids who live in the same state where 17 people were massacred earlier this year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

NASP believes in the value of drills, even if students know it’s just an exercise. As Cowan put it, you don’t have to fill an airplane with smoke and suddenly lose 10,000 feet of altitude to show passengers where the oxygen masks are.

The change in Seminole County came several days after the Dec. 6 drill, which Seminole officials say was well executed, with law enforcement doing various checks throughout Lake Brantley High in a matter of minutes to ensure teachers, administration and students were doing what they were supposed to do.

But the drill was followed by a series of mistakes and misunderstandings that led to panic among students and their parents.

For example, a message about the unannounced drill was supposed to go out to parents immediately after it concluded. That didn’t happen until more than a half-hour later.

In addition, after the drill an announcement was made on the school intercom thanking students for their cooperation and behavior. But because the announcement came during the busy and noisy lunch period, all some students heard was “code red,” which contributed to the resulting chaos and panic, during which some students fled the school.

Seminole’s changes include no intercom announcements using the words “code red” during lunchtime.

More important, students, parents and teachers will now receive notifications through text, email and intercom that a drill is underway right as it begins. That should put everyone’s mind at ease without detracting from the value of preparing for the worst.

Taken together, the changes should lead to a more orderly and controlled process that reduces the risk of scaring the bejeebers out of people.