For the past week, I have struggled with what to say about the school shooting in Nashville. Not because I don't have any thoughts or feelings on it, but because I'm not sure I have anything worthwhile or new to add to the conversation.
As an educator and mom, it's frightening how numb our society is becoming to these mass shootings. But I suppose, as is the case for many scary things, we learn to compartmentalize in order to go on living and sending our kids to school each day.
For the past week (and if I'm being honest, for many more months prior to that), I have mulled over a myriad of thoughts about this school shooting, as well as all the others. Because my passion is kid's social-emotional health and well-being, most of my thoughts center around that topic, and I have found myself returning over and over again to the same question.
Do the benefits of active shooter and lockdown drills outweigh the risks to our students and teachers?
The answer seems to be that no one knows for sure.
As a school administrator, I remember announcing these drills and walking the building, jiggling classroom door handles to ensure they were locked, peering through classroom windows to ensure the kids weren't visible from where I was standing and admonishing teachers whose class "failed the test."
I cringe now to think of the psychological damage being done to the students and teachers I loved like my own family, and I wonder how many hundreds or thousands of other schools in our country are doing the same.
As a mom of three kids, I feel outrage when I hear about active shooter and lockdown drills being conducted, not from the school administrators, but from my kids when they return home in the afternoon.
While I certainly don't have all the answers (and from my research, it appears no one does), I do know that we can do better. We MUST do better.
So, rather than focusing on all that's wrong (because that list is too long to think about), I am choosing to focus on empowering educators with tools and resources to reflect upon, share with administrators and use with students.
Here we go.
- National Association of School Psychologist's "Best Practice Considerations for Armed Assailant Drills in Schools" - this is a very comprehensive manual that should be used by school or district administrators as part of their emergency preparedness plan
- Your Local Epidemiologist's "Active Shooter Drills: Do Risks Outweigh Benefits?" - a quick and easy read for anyone
- National Association of School Psychologist's "Mitigating Psychological Effects of Lockdowns" - a great fact sheet of tips and to-dos for before, during and after a lockdown drill
- National Association of School Psychologist's "Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers" - a fantastic infographic of tips for talking with children of all ages about violence, includes specific talking points and is available in Spanish
- National Education Association's "Unannounced Active Shooter Drills Scaring Students Without Making Them Safer" - a great article on what NOT to do when conducting active shooter drills at school
- NPR's "2 Big Teachers Unions Call for Rethinking Student Involvement in Lockdown Drills" - the case against lockdown drills
- Everytown's "The Impact of Active Shooter Drills in Schools" - a whitepaper that includes loads of data and anecdotal evidence
- National Association of School Psychologist's "School Safety Drills and Exercises for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Tips and Resources for Educators" - best practices and specific strategies for a population of students often forgotten about during school safety drills
What other resources have you found helpful? Please share them in the comments.
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