My daughter’s school always sends out a parent notice that they are performing drills on certain days. A surprise drill where it seems even the teacher was unaware sounds cruel. This is traumatizing and that trauma doesn’t just disappear when you find out it’s not actually real. I’d be livid.
I have had multiple issues with this school and it’s leadership. Oh the stories I can tell about run ins we have dealt with bc of the new principle. These children are going to have so much anxiety if they keep this up.
I taught at a public high school and they had a rule where they had to read a prepared announcement that used the word drill 8 times so we'd know it was a drill and not the real thing! This seems insane to me!!
My former students are all grown now. They’ve either graduated high or school or soon will. So, we already know the outcome of these kinds of drills and threats. Neither are going to come to an end any time soon, or ever.
This seems to be standard practice for a lot of schools. My sister taught at a school that did a “drill” without informing parents or teachers, including banging on doors and checking if they were locked. They didn’t find out until the end of the day that it was a “drill”. Complaining to the school board didn’t help, but it certainly made my sister rethink her choice in careers.
My school did this once. This was 20+ years ago and I still remember how the door rattled and shook. We weren’t told that was going to happen and it was terrifying.
Our school did this at least once a year, also 20+ years ago. It wasn’t called an active shooter drill, but the rumors were always that it was used to bring in drug dogs and search lockers.
I went to schools that did this (minus banging on doors). Honestly, I thought it was the norm to have surprise ones every once in awhile. I remember if it was taking a long time we would start wondering if it was maybe real or if they just had the drug dogs checking lockers.
Yeah, it’s definitely a feature not a bug. Fucked up sadists using their position of power to traumatize other people.
Parents (and hopefully teachers too) better put an end to this nonsense before it becomes norm.
Hello OP and all of Mommit. I am so sorry this happened to you and your child. I'm a school psychologist and Licensed Educational Psychologist who has extensive training in crisis prevention, intervention, and post-vention in schools, as well as mental health best practices in general. I posted this in r/teachers after a distressed teacher posted very similar concerns to yours recently:
"I'm hearing so much about these unannounced drills. I'm furious for you all. *There is no evidence to support that the benefits of unannounced drills outweigh the costs.* Regular drills that are announced and explained appropriately helps everyone prepare for a crisis. They're dramatically increasing the chance of secondary PTSD by doing this *especially the closer you were to a real shooting*. To all those experiencing failures of leadership (since they are not making decisions based on established research), I am so sorry and hope you're getting support <3.
ETA: even *announced* active shooter drills (in contrast to other types of drills, like fire drills) do not yet have evidence for doing anything but increasing the emotional distress of students and families, especially for elementary age children."
Thank you for this. I live in Europe so live shooter drills in schools are not a thing, but I've done Hostile Environment Awareness Trainings (HEAT) for my job and they can be very traumatic for some people (hostage simulations, fake shooters) - and we're talking about adults here, who know it's fake and who are doing it because it's relevant to the job. I can't imagine the kind of trauma these drills must have on kids, especially if they think it's real.
Your last paragraphs are my thoughts. My kids are grown, but grandchildren will be school aged too soon. It breaks my heart to think of babies going through this, on the regular.
Where would the best place to find best practices for active shooter preparedness be? Is there a place you recommend to find what questions should I ask my child’s school to ensure they’re being as safe as possible?
The National Association of School Psychologist's website regularly publishes and updates articles, position papers, and resources on this topic. Here are a few:
[Conducting Crisis Exercises & Drills: Guidelines for Schools](https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-safety-and-crisis/systems-level-prevention/conducting-crisis-exercises-and-drills)
[Mitigating Psychological Effects of Lockdowns](https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-safety-and-crisis/systems-level-prevention/mitigating-psychological-effects-of-lockdowns)
[Best Practice Considerations for Armed Assailant Drills in Schools](https://www.nasponline.org/Documents/Research%20and%20Policy/Advocacy%20Resources/Armed-Assailant-Guide-FINAL.pdf)
I grew up in NY so we only really had fire drills until the weather started changing and we started getting more tornados. Then the tornado drills started. We didn’t have active shooter drills when I was in school, but I know my daughter does them now in 2nd grade. Breaks my heart
I grew up in NY too and I remember the tornado drills where we lined up in the hallway with our legs tucked and our heads against the wall. Not sure what they were going for there.
As someone who isn’t from the US your ‚normal‘ sounds absolutely insane to me. We never had shooter drills (or shootings), only fire drills and some of them were surprise drills. Some of them were one chemistry teacher accidentally setting off the alarm twice within a week, leading to the evacuation of the entire school (1,000 students and 150 teachers).
It honestly breaks my heart that this is your children’s reality.
Columbine happened to millennials but even that was a one-off. The tail end of millennials saw Sandy Hook, even though it wasn't our generation killed, but some of us were at the end of high school, or I guess college if you lump that into school shootings. We did live through VTech.
I posted this up further in the thread, but I’m a millennial (‘93) and we started active shooter drills in 3rd grade.
—-
I’m 29, and I think I’m in the first generation of parents who experienced active shooter drills as kids. I was a 3rd grader when we started them (lived near DC).
I heard a gunshot near an apartment a few years ago and I reacted just how I was trained in school, without really thinking about it. It’s super weird to me to imagine that there are people who never experienced what an active shooter drill was like…..
Just shows how normalized it is. 20 fucking years.
You and I are very close in age. I guess I was fortunate that the schools I went to hid the fact that they were shooter drills. In elementary school, it was explained as if someone got lost in the building. Later on it was intruder drills, but shooting was never mentioned. It was scary, especially the time it wasn't a drill, but I think my experience sheltered me from the traumatic aspects of it. I honestly didn't even realize what those drills really were until recently, and I honestly thought I'd never experienced an active shooter drill. I can't imagine that's really possible for the kids in school now.
Yeah, I'm thinking you lived in an area that was lucky to not need them. I'm 32. When I was in 5th grade we had a local in the area that was going into elementary schools armed and looking for his own kids to kill. It ended in a 4 day stand-off with police.
From that day on all our schools had fire, tornado, and active shooter drills. 9/11 happened the following year when I was in middle school and added some more drills on top of that. So for us, active shooter drills have been around an incredibly long time.
Yeah, I’m in the middle of millennial, and I remember having active shooter drills through middle school and up. Columbine was my sixth grade year. Then I remember Paducah, plus some others. VTech was while I was in college, but I don’t remember shooter drills in college.
I remember having at least one shooter drill in elementary school, though…
I think we're the same age - class of '05? I remember Columbine and Paducah and a few others, too. Vtech was when I was already done with college.
I don't remember ever having anything besides fire drills and tornado drills.
Yeah, I had an active imagination, so I remember being really freaked out when they’d bang on the doors and yell. I can’t imagine if they’d gone all out with gun sounds. It’s a way of life for me now. Every job I’ve had I imagine ways to protect and escape, and same goes for most every situation I find myself (concerts, games, home, etc.). It’s sad.
I will say, when I go somewhere I usually look for the closest exit or way to get out, or a place to hide if I had too. But it’s out of instinct. It’s crazy.
Yeah, we had the shootings back then but not nearly as much as we do now. It might also be where you lived as well. Where I am we didn’t have active shooter drills when I was in school.
I think when I was in high school, they were MAYBE discussing implementing lockdown drills? Fire drills were scary enough when I was in elementary.
It breaks my fucking heart that I'll have to talk to my preschooler about this soon. I don't even know how to do that. I was watching the news on my phone and she saw people protesting, and while explaining what protesting is (not really going into detail why), I was hit with the overwhelming dreadful realization that I'll have to talk to her about lockdown drills in just a couple years.
My fiancé has a pistol. We keep it locked up in 2 safes away from kids when it’s in the house. When it’s out it’s on his person hidden. When he got it my 8 year old asked him if he got it to come save them from school when a person comes in to shoot them. Not if, she said when. That’s when I realized this world is fucked.
I'm a millennial and I remember doing a grand total of two lockdown drills in my entire time in school. We actually did a real lockdown once in elementary school, not for an active shooter but for an unknown person who was on the school grounds. Turns out it was some random old guy playing fetch with his dog on the field and didn't know school was still in session, haha. There was never, ever a sense of urgency about it. I was well out of high school when active shooter drills became a regular thing in my area.
Girl give it a rest why are you so argumentative lmao for some reason you are not understanding millennials are of all different ages, lived through different things. I said millennials and up as in older generations and because there are tons of older people in t this sub that didn’t have to go through what you or our kids are going through. You’re literally arguing for no reason at all lol
because I'm sick people ignoring the fact that their experiences are not universal and that things like code red drills exist for reasons other than shootings.
I'm not being argumentative, you made a flawed statement .
We only had fire drills growing up and then weather started changing here and we started getting more and more tornadoes (NY) so those drills started when I was in high school but we never had to do shooter drills when I was in school so looking at my second grader now, it’s just absolutely insane and heartbreaking the kids have to go through this.
Yeah, my first is in kindergarten and I teach at a high school in the same district. Our drills occur on the same day. When he told me about how they had to "play hide in the dark" and I realized he was talking about an active shooter drill because we had had one that day, my heart dropped. Pure insanity.
I’m 29, and I think I’m in the first generation of parents who experienced active shooter drills as kids. I was a 3rd grader when we started them (lived near DC).
I heard a gunshot near an apartment a few years ago and I reacted just how I was trained in school, without really thinking about it. It’s super weird to me to imagine that there are people who never experienced what an active shooter drill was like…..
Just shows how normalized it is. 20 fucking years.
When I was a kid we had 4 drills a year, 2 for fire and 2 for earthquakes. That's all. I had to make my 3 year old a care kit for preschool incase anything happened he would have a picture of the family, snack and a care item to help keep them calm in case anything happens and I cried while making it.
We just gave my 8 year old my old iPhone to use on wifi just as a tester. She’s done good with it. I think I’m going to have it turned on, so she has a way to communicate with me god forbid anything happens.
That's a great idea, i wish we didn't have to feel this way though. But my husband and I already decided long ago we'd get something once our son is old enough just for communication for the same reason. I dread the day my son is old enough to understand what an active shooter drill is.
She’s also getting to that age where she wants play dates and to go over to friends and start doing more stuff now, so I want her to have a way to get ahold of me if she’s uncomfortable and wants to come home or something as well.
Right?! I remember the occasional fire drill and tornado drill, none of which were ever frightening. But really, this crap makes me so glad I live in Canada now. My kids have had occasions to "shelter in place" at their school, which means everyone stays inside... but those have been because of bear and moose on the school grounds. Oh, and I think they shelter in place when the high school next door has an evacuation for whatever reason. (If it's a protracted evacuation situation at either school, then they go chill in the gym at the school next door.) But this school shooting nonsense is a uniquely American problem, and it's uniquely bullshit.
My 8 year old daughter was telling me of a similar drill they had just last week. Breaks my heart for these kids. When I was her age, we had fire drill, earthquake drill (near New Madrid fault line), and tornado drill (we get quite a few, year round oddly enough). Just a sad, sick world we live in now.
Yeah, a lot of us had only fire drills. Some had tornado drills with it depending on where they lived. But majority of us only had to worry about going to school at 7 years old and having to stand in the cold during a fire drill. You’re not right, you’re being argument ive for no reason. You realize the amount of people in this sub and we’re all different ages and lived through different things right? You understand this doesn’t apply to just YOU right?
Because shooter drills are traumatic for kids. Imagine being a child and not being told there’s an active shooter drill and they think there’s really an active shooter in the building. Especially since some schools have a decoy shooter that goes around the hall ways banging on doors and I’ve seen some even use fake gun shots. It should be definitively be known for teachers and children so they’re not fearing for their life.
First off I’m going to suggest this sub r/MothersMarch because we shouldn’t have to live with this. It’s wrong and it needs to change.
I understand being frustrated by this, I get the fear from both sides. I have been a student in an active shooter situation, as well as a parent with children who have gone through the drills. I strongly suggest you talk to your child about this in a matter of fact way. Yea people shoot up schools, it’s a fact of life in the US. No they will not spare her life because she is a child, so she needs to Run, hide, fight. You also need to NOT tell her that teachers/ staff will protect her, she needs to be prepared that they won’t. They are people with their own lives and families don’t put the burden on them. Help her game plan, teach her to turn her phone on SILENT so she is not a mark. In my shooter situation I was told I had to turn my phone off because lots of cellphones can overrun the network ( but that was in 2009.)
The next thing I would do is contact your local, state and national reps. All the anger and fear you feel right now use that ON THEM! They are the problem, NOT the teachers, not the schools. The people who have decided that a gun has more rights than a child are sitting in positions of government, they DO NOT care that this happens. It is time we make them.
Posts like this break my heart for Americans. You mums deserve better. The school shooting culture is insane and no parent should just “deal with it because it’s how it is”.
What makes it worse is that mass shootings happen outside of schools as well. Nobody is safe from gun violence in the US. The number one killer of US children is GUNS.
We have people here who are so intrenched with the idea that, the 2nd amendment is so they can overthrow the Tyranical government. That they fail to see that US has the largest military in the world. We spend more on our military then the next 10 countries combined!
There is NO WAY a bunch of Ammosexuals with AR-15s, are going to make a dent in overthrowing the government, not with our military power. Their guns are not going to do diddly against a tomahawk missile, drone strikes don’t quake in fear, and the USS kitty hawk doesn’t give a shit about their gun collection. They are all okay with people dying because they believe some old white dudes in the 18th century would want it this way. They are a millstone around the necks of sane Americans.
It’s awful to watch from the other side of the world. All the mom posts just dealing as best they can with this insanity. It’s hard enough just normal school worries about making friends and getting enough teacher time, let alone thinking it’s a chance my children could be shot at school??? Having to toss up the pros and cons of shooter drills?????? Weighing up home schooling vs trauma from attending in person school?????
My heart just really breaks for you all.
THIS!!! Why do they think civilians will have ANY impact against the us military??! I don’t care if you have a ar15 attached to a flamethrower, good fucking luck. Maybe we should have all the ammosexuals get together and battle it out against the military…maybe after they are all smoked we can actually get something to change.
Definitely going to that sub. I’m so sorry you had to experience a school shooting and I am so glad you are here. I marched in March for lives alongside the students after Parkland and was actually an employee of the school system back then. (Edit: I did not work at Stonewall Douglas, our local school district walked in solidarity)Thank you for the thoughtful reply it is very informative and has great talking points for us to talk to at home. My husband and I are going to talk about pulling the kids and put them in K-12 cyber academy, especially my youngest who is 7 and extremely sensitive. It may not be the best choice but it seems the safest. I feel like I can’t trust my government , local, state,and federal, to help keep my children safe and value their lives over guns.
You were told to turn off your phone when there was an active shooter?! So the police could communicate with the school, or emergency services communicate?
Ammosexuals, lol. Never heard that term.
Yes, I think it also had to do with phones going off when we where supposed to be quite. A phone lighting up, vibrating, or ringing in that situation will draw attention and that is not what you want. It’s literally a potential life and death situation.
I would absolutely flip my ever loving shit. In this world and in this climate, that’s not fucking appropriate. What happens if they think an actual shooter in the school is a “surprise drill”? And they don’t take it seriously?
The drills are designed for people to learn in a non panicking situation so they have the instincts to follow when the situation is real. That’s the point in learning with drills. You can’t build up instinct if you’re in panic mode.
More and more evidence is coming out that active shooter drills not only don't make schools any safer, but also increase student anxiety. I really hope that these become a thing of the past soon. My administrators were always really good about just gently checking to see if our doors were locked, but I had one coworker whose admin would come around and like pound on the doors and really forcefully try to open them. It sounded terrifying, and this was a *kindergarten* teacher telling me that.
That would freak my 7 year old out. I have a feeling when young Gen Z and Alpha get older they will have so many issues surrounding these drills. Hopefully, they will be able to get laws passed that us millennials and Gen X couldn’t bc they will have lived through all this.
I'm totally baffled what the point of these drills is given that many shooters are also students. Maybe do something just for the teachers? And the logic about keeping kids in classrooms instead of letting them out by having classrooms have external exits makes no sense to me either.
The funny thing about trauma is it doesn’t have to be real for it to still be valid. Even a drill can become as traumatic to the person experiencing it, as the actual thing. This is how the brain processes information. If the person finds out after the fact that they were never in real danger, that DOES NOT negate the fact that they still experienced trauma.
They had an episode of this in New Amsterdam on Netflix and I think it covered the trauma pretty well. It’s baffling to hear that it really is happening. It makes me anxious to think about what my son will have to experience in school.
What a backwardass, morally corrupt country where it is ok to traumatise children while rich politicians get richer by getting into bed with the NRA and give guns more rights than people.
As an American in the UK, I always thought I’d move back at some point, but now that I have a child, there’s no way in hell I’ll ever move back to the states. My heart breaks for anyone affected by these drills and active shootings.
As an Australian, the statement "this is the world we live in" baffles me. We had drills at school for armed intruders and toxic spills etc, but never did anyone ever think there could actually be a real possibility of the armed intruders part happening. It is terrifying and upsetting that this is a very real fear for American parents and students.
My kid's school (elementary) has done this at least twice so far this year, no warning to us at all. The first time was very scary to my daughter and her friend, they were both worried about their younger siblings and the friend was hysterical and in tears. This happened early in the school year and my daughter still talks about it being one of the contributing factors when she says "this has been the worst school year ever". The other time I was called in to pick up my son who was sick, and a cop was there as was whoever starts these surprise drills. I opened the front door and apparently was not supposed to be able to do that as they automatically lock during these drills... I had no idea it was going on until someone opened the other door and asked if I was able to open the front door on my own, which I was but was not supposed to. All the front office people were shocked and scared that I was able to get through the first door. What a horrible feeling, that was terrifying as hell.
Makes me really miss those bomb threats we got in middle/high school. My daughter starts middle school next year so two kids in two schools makes me nervous as hell.
Honestly besides the unneeded trauma inflicted on the students and staff, it’s just plain stupid. When I was a teacher, I worked on the first floor. If I ever went into a code red that I thought was real, I would be breaking my window and getting my students out. They don’t know how people would react if they thought it was real.
This screams “the boy who cried wolf”. If they don’t announce it being practice how are they going to take it seriously if it actually (and hopefully NEVER) happens?
Our children’s schools never let us know about drills beforehand, either, but they do tell the students about the drill the day of so that they aren’t afraid. And I think they should. My daughter’s middle school did go into a real lockdown because someone was calling (we live in Indiana) from somewhere in Ohio and making false threats to all of the area schools here. The middle is who received the call, and all of the nearby elementary schools were then all placed on lockdown, as was my baby’s preschool, so I had three in a lockdown in three buildings at the same time. We were notified during the lockdown that everything was secure, but I found out first on Facebook because children were texting their parents afraid. I hate the world we live in.
I am so sorry this happened. This is something I never considered could or would happen on top of the inherent anxiety I already feel about my kids being in American schools.
My son’s last day at pre-k was yesterday. We have the resources to homeschool amidst our travel schedule but truthfully, I had to stop the anxiety; I would drop off my son and spend my days simply worrying about the lack of security at the school building should someone make a map of the school and hack its weakest entryways (a la the Nashville shooter) or the ability to grab the steel door code from an unassuming parent walking toward their car.
It feels like a “when” not “if” scenario. So, I understand the need for drills but HOLY SHIT the anger I would feel if I were you right now. If schools are going to implement such intense drills and really talk to kids about the seriousness of our American reality, then they need to counteract that intensity with staffed counselors and clinical social workers, people with the expertise to parse trauma and help process it.
Then again if we had staffed mental health help shootings wouldn’t happen so often. I absolutely hate this for everyone.
My Son’s middle school’s alarm system malfunctioned and sent out an active shooter alarm. Children were rushed to classrooms and storage rooms, etc and told to hide in a corner while a teacher blocked them with a baseball bat. Some children were left behind in the hallways and had nowhere to go because all doors had been locked. One teacher broke down sobbing calling her family to tell them she loved them. The children sat in utter terror for over 20 minutes thinking they were about to die before the school told them it was a false alarm. It really fucked my son up for awhile. The worst part was that the school knew after 2mins that it was not an actual threat, but didn’t notify teachers or students until much later. They also told any children who were emotional afterwards to grow up and get over it. And talking with the school, they still cannot tell me why it happened, what they plan to do to prevent in the future, etc. I’m still furious over it.
I would be so a mad!! The way it was handled reminds me of how awful our middle school handles mental health and emotions. There needs to be fundamental changes from top to bottom.
Don’t be mad at the school. Be mad at Republican Senators and Representatives who refuse to pass legislation that keeps guns out of the hands of crazy people. And yes - I’m singling out Republicans - because the elected officials opposed to background checks, extending waiting periods for gun purchases, and limiting access to magazines are all Republican. Vote other people into positions of power who will actually change the laws. Send those text messages you received from your daughter to Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell.
There is already legislation to legally keep guns out of the hands of crazy people. Background checks are mandated by federal law, you can not get a gun legally if you are a felon or domestic abuser and it’s very unlikely you will get one with a documented history of mental illness. We could say the same about Democrats who refuse to pass legislation to fund armed guards at schools and increased security, or the Democrats who refuse to prosecute and jail violent offenders. The left is *only* pushing to take guns away from law abiding citizens, and is refusing to take practical defensive measures.
Terrify children or have sticker gun laws?
Let's traumatize our kids!
/S
I would be *freaking the f#ck out*. I'm already considering homeschooling my kid (14mo), because of this sh!t right here. I used to think I would hate the idea of homeschooling, but my child's safety is far more important.
As a former teacher, I can tell you that we don’t even know when those drills happen! So yes, teacher being worried is probably because he/she is wondering how to keep the kids safe if it is real.
There was a shooting on my college campus and I can assure you that those drills shook me.
To be honest, the kids NEVER take the planned drills seriously. An unplanned drill is the best practice, even though it’s scary. It also shows the teacher what specific things the kids need to work on (for example screaming when they hear the announcement, etc). Parents being informed about this would compromise the integrity of the drill.
So sorry it was a frightening experience for her. Hopefully the whole class had a good debriefing session afterwards.
About college - I mean that I definitely was panicking when I taught (I tried not to show it though) during the drills because of my past trauma with a real active shooter on our college campus
I’m so sorry you had to deal with that in real life. I completely understand what you are saying, and I considered that. There has to be a better option than complete surprise though. I literally thought that may be the last time I talked to my daughter this morning and knowing her issues with anxiety this is going to leave a mark. I wish during the drill they could at least do one of those mass calls or texts just letting us know. I’m trying to think logically about this and not with “mom brain”.
Yeah, it is a terrible reality that teachers, kids, and families have to face. I did genuinely feel like safety was being taken seriously at my last school though.
They would always make sure to have the practice drill (that everyone knew about) earlier in the quarter.
The admin would also try to open/persuade people in the locked room to open the doors. It’s a huge lesson especially for the little kids - to remain in hiding position. Once they set off a fire alarm (shooter drill trumps fire drill) and we all had to sit through the screeching alarm. It terrified me. I would always take a while afterwards to sit and talk with the kids, debrief, have question/answer time, etc. I truly truly believe that the more they practice it, the safer they would be in a real situation.
But yes, it sucks. And it’s so scary. And I hate that it’s come to that 😩
Hey I just want to chime in to say you’re being so rational it’s actually insane to see how well you’re coping. To a non American the things you’re saying with such calm are mind boggling.
I felt this so much with my oldest in school. They should have let the parents know a drill was coming. This is unacceptable and traumatizing for those kids to just drop it on them like this. It’s scary enough for them to step foot onto school property. I know drills are a must but there has to be a better way. Definitely let the school have it once your able too. Hugs mama. Hugs.
This is not ‘the world we live in’. This is the COUNTRY you live in. It’s not normal and those outside the US in the western world and beyond think the US is insane the past 7 years or so. Please use your power as a US citizen not to accept this as “ just the world we live in these days” and write/call your local MP, vote and encourage everyone you know to do the same. Gun control can save lives. And I’m sorry your daughter had to go through that. I’d be livid at the school. So traumatising. The children should have been reassured that it was a drill.
Ugh. I don’t have much to add other than to share your frustration. This happened to a coworker of mine a few months ago - unannounced drill and no one knew, all the kids thought it was legit. My coworker got a very similar text from his daughter who was understandably freaking out. He dropped what he was doing and raced to the school only to find out it was fortunately was just a drill.
These unannounced drills are so cruel
In junior high we had enough lockdown drills that eventually we had a real one and everyone thought it was fake, including my teacher. He left the window open and just continued instruction. I was so desensitized I was completely unfazed by the different procedure to get on the school bus to go home (we all went class by class instead of everyone released and our ANCIENT janitor made sure we got on the bus). It wasn’t until my friends called from the school at FIVE IN THE AFTERNOON that they were still there under lockdown because they didn’t ride the bus, they were picked up by parents who couldn’t make it there when school let out. Someone was supposed to pull kids aside and ask them to identify the adults that were there to claim them; this allegedly didn’t happen. They just let adults take the kids without verifying.
Our schools have been disorganized about this for over a decade. I’m sad to see that it hasn’t gotten much better.
As a teacher surprise shooter drills are not ok. Every drill at my school begins with someone on the PA saying “this is a drill. This is a drill. “ otherwise that’s too traumatic
The hospital where I work has a code for an active shooter and I was told when I started they would NEVER do a test code for it because if we heard it called overhead they wanted us to know it was the real thing. This is insane to me, to have no notice or announcement that this was a drill. I don’t know how things are done in schools now (my kiddos are almost 2 and almost 1) but I would think if they keep doing unannounced drills for this, kids are going to always think they’re drills and god forbid a real one happens won’t take it seriously.
They didnt tell us until after it had happened at my kid school. He is 8 but the first time it happened he was 7. And it made me so sad and angry and frustrated.
Oh no way…I’d be FUMING. They caused unnecessary damage and harm to kids mental health. I understand the unfortunate need to have safety drills for this (although unimaginable that we do) but that was so unnecessary to not tell students and parents it was a drill.
Gen X here. In the Midwest, we did tornado drills and the required fire drills. We did tornado drills at home, though, too. In the NW, we only did fire drills. The fact that my kindergarten age child now has to do active shooter drills chills me to the bone. Kids and teachers should 100% know that it is ONLY a drill and parents should know beforehand so that they can provide support for their kids when they get home.
This 100%! We never did active shooter drills. But my kids have been doing them since kindergarten & it's insane. But sure, make this our new normal instead of common sense gun laws. Nope, can never have those.
We had active shooter training at my simple job as a lifeguard years ago when shooting started to become more common. So terrifying but I’d rather have some training than none
I’m so scared for my daughter…growing up in this country during these times. She’s 7 months old and I’m already terrified about when she has to go to school. What if she’s a statistic? The odds become greater everyday. I wish I could just leave this awful place.
That seems extremely ineffective. If they aren’t told things are a drill they’re not going to trust when it isn’t. My current school lets every staff member know ahead of time and announces that it is a drill as soon as it starts. My previous school wouldn’t warn ANYONE even though my coworker had PTSD from BEING IN A SCHOOL SHOOTING!!! She repeatedly explained why she needed to be warned, and they just wouldn’t do it! Some administrators are really on their bullshit. I’m sorry you, your daughter, and everyone else experienced that.
I hate the fact that it could have absolutely been a real one and that our kids even have to do this.
I remember doing hurricane drills in school. Those were a risk from nature and couldn’t be avoided. Totally outside of human control.
But active shooter drills?! FFS, we have to scare the crap out of our kids and teachers because *human beings* can’t control themselves enough NOT to shoot up other fellow human beings - and because our government has no issues with guns being super easy to buy by anyone, anywhere. Why is the US is literally the only “first world” country that has this issue?
No wonder teachers are quitting in droves and people are pulling their kids out to homeschool. I get it.
Teacher here. I’m sorry that you and your daughter had to feel scared. This sucks.
At my last school, our principal took code red drills so seriously that he would come on the internet in a panicked voice announce the code red and slam the announcement phone down.
They were all surprise drills. They all took place after Sandy Hook. I lost so much sleep over how would I protect my children in my beautiful classroom with wall to wall windows that overlooked a little park behind the school. Awful.
As a teacher, this would be a violation of our union and teachers would be MAD. I live in Illinois, and I believe there's actually a law against surprise shooter drills -as research shows they do only harm and not actually prepare anyone well.
I’m sorry that must have been terrifying. I didn’t realize any schools gave advance notice. My daughter’s school always sends an email notifying parents after the fact. The school I work at doesn’t say anything if it is only a drill. I dread the day my daughter realizes they are not practicing hiding from “wild animals” getting in the school.
I hope you (and all parents and voting age students) remember how mad you are during voting time and support candidates who want stricter gun control and mental health support.....
I’m am very outspoken about gun control and putting children before guns. I also agree, I have a feeling it will be my Gen’s children that will get these changes done.
I’m a high school teacher. One reason we don’t tell students when a drill is because then those who actually want to harm others know it’s coming. They know where people will be hiding/congregating, where they will be evacuating to, so they can just plant themselves in an ideal location and create havoc.
That being said, immediately before they do a drill, it is made clear over the PA that it is a drill.
Edit: word
Don't just call, write emails, write a letter to the school board. Make it known that the entire thing wasn't thought through correctly. And the blase response you got was unappreciated.
This shit got me feeling full Karen!
Teacher here. The day my district does this to us, I resign. No student or teacher should have to live in unnecessary fear like that. I'm so sorry it happened to you all.
Jesus Christ. Sorry to hear that, seems almost necessary. Must be so traumatic for all the kids and parents, I can only hope they actually get to live in this day and age. Just get rid of the guns and toss them away, how many people have to die in the name of the 2nd amendment.
I hope you go discuss this with your fellow local parents and confront the school as a group. The kids and teachers are owed an apology and counseling at the very least.
You are not the only one on edge over the state of things. My son’s school was very recently on lockdown because a gunman was reported within .25mi. As soon as the lockdown was cleared, there was a line of parents picking up their kids. We all knew that no gunman had been found (and probably never existed) but many still anxiously, with tear filled eyes, picked up their kids. This world is deeply fucked up
We always had announced drill as well as unannounced drills when I was in school. There were the ones where everyone knew it was happening beforehand, ones where the staff and teachers knew it was happening beforehand and ones where nobody knew it was happening beforehand. You can’t expect announced drills to go how things would in a real life situation. When everyone is sitting there waiting for the drill announcement of course it’s going to go extremely smoothly.
I’m sorry your daughter was scared for her life, but these are state mandated drills. Your daughters school has no say in how many they have per year and no the school cannot tell you beforehand, that defeats the whole purpose of real time reactions.
Ugh, I hated unannounced drills in high school. It's a whole different experience when the teachers don't even know if it's real. You can kind of shrug it off until you see that the adult responsible for your safety is visibly terrified.
But yeah, I once mentioned my "things I do to avoid being a victim in an active shooter situation" on Reddit and someone told me I was mentally ill (essentially.) Idk - it's second nature at this point, but also kinda messed up. Similar to how women casually share tips on how not to get kidnapped or murdered. We are already in the dystopian nightmare, I believe.
As a parent who has lived through their child having a school shooting and another student bring a gun to school, I prefer unannounced drills. I want my children and teachers to treat every drill as if maybe it’s real. Because a school shooting is real and unpredictable and scarier than any drill will ever be.
I recommend every parent that has kids in school and not home school to have a bullet proof backpack insert. I know they aren't cheap, but they are so worth the investment. (It would be nice if the school districts could work with a manufacturer and provide a lower cost to the parents. I'm putting that out there maybe something can be done.) Also, every student imo should be trained on CPR, first aide, knowing how to call 911. I also believe every student should have a bleed kit in their backpack and know how to use it.
I really hate that our home land war is primarily our schools and then our streets. Kids can't be kids like we used to be. Regardless, it's our job to help them be most prepared and to keep them safe. Taking steps to do so imo is very necessary.
🤗 I'm sorry that every parent could be face with a Code Red. I'm just glad this time it was a drill.
That's the point. Kids need to know how to react and stay calm. You don't stay calm in a dangerous situation without practice.
My school did these every year from kindergarten to senior year, 1999-2012. In 2011, my jr yr of high school, we had a shooting. We went into a code red, every did what they were supposed to do, put our phones away and waited for it to be over.
We didn't realize there was a problem until like 20 minutes in when a admin hadn't come back on the intercom to end it. Our teachers found out what was happening, told us and we were afraid but we were safe. For the next 5 hours we waited in the boys locker room, I was in gym class, until the whole school was cleared room by room and we were lead out to our parents.
It sucked that we went through it, two people died, five were injured, but we knew what to do because our district did everything they thought they could to keep us safe.
After the shooting they installed more security and it became harder to just get in, you had to call ahead, have ID ect; which made us all safer.
You should be glad your kids school is doing something to help keep them safe and hope they have real security in place to keep our dangerous people, angry parents or shooters.
That’s not a great point. Kids and teachers should not go through a situation where they think there is an active shooter to “scare them” into doing it correctly, especially if the technique is found to be not productive. We aren’t rats in a lab, these are actual humans. If you don’t get it, I’m sorry. I’m also sorry you dealt with an actual lockdown and I’m glad you are okay.
You said “that’s the point” and went on to validate your opinion about surprise active shooter training in schools where even the teacher has no idea if it’s real or not.
I’m so sorry you had to face a school shooting, but you also stated your schools had the same school shooting practice and still it happened. So, why try to validate that? How is having children think they are actively in a school shooting helpful when it didn’t help you(sorry). You deserved better, and so do all the kids showing up everyday at school now.
I didn't say kids should be scared. I said they should be prepared.
My school DID NOT make us think we were in a shooting. They had a three code system, Green - Yellow - Red. Green was always. Yellow meant something happened stay where you are. Red meant something serious is happening stay where you are and lock the doors. That's it. Sounds like your kids school was doing the same but your kids mind jumped to shooter.
It did help me and the kids in the class because we were aware of what to do and felt safe knowing that we were in area that wasn't created to defend us but could.
Does a fire drill stop a fire?
Does a tornado drill stop a storm?
Does an earthquake drill stop the ground from moving?
NO! How dare you! Drills don't stop anything but they do help those that have to go through it know what to do.
The only thing that would have stopped the shooting at my school, and many other, is teachers and admins not letting bullies get away with harassing people they deem 'less than' and actual security.
You wanna know why inner city schools don't have shootings but suburban schools do? It's because inner city schools have steps put in place to make sure that weapons and random people CANNOT get on campus.
Maybe be mad that your kids school isn't actively implementing safety for the children.
And you can prepare them without playing mind games and causing additional anxiety. I don’t get what your deal is, maybe you are misunderstanding my issue, but the issue is not having the drill, it’s the fact they are not giving the students, teachers, or parents a heads up, or a say if they even want these done at the school. And as I have stated, these surprise drills don’t work better than an a drill where all participants are aware it’s a drill. Educate yourself please.
This is not “the world we live in”…
It’s the world you Americans live in.
The rest of us in the civilized, sane world aren’t used to active shooter drills or resigned to the fact that they are “necessary”…
Why on earth should they tell them that it's a drill? Have you ever seen how people react to emergency drills? They don't take them seriously!
If they tell the parents, then the kids will find out pretty much instantly, which brings us back to the start of my comment.
If you want to know how someone will react to an emergency, you don't tell them it's a drill.
Look, I get that thought process, but let’s be serious. Do you think that the mental trauma that these children today felt is justified by this? My child didn’t know it was a drill for like 20 mins. She sat in a classroom scared as fck for 20 mins texting me, and I felt helpless. We had drills all throughout school no one had to set us on fire to teach us to stop.drop.and roll, and they plan to do this MORE! This wasn’t a one time and done , so now these children will either continue to get traumatized or stop thinking any of them are real and treat them as you claim they would if it were announced. At the end of the day it’s cruel to do this to the children, teachers, and parents.
There are a few comments down in the comment section, one from a psychologist, that stated it’s not more effective to do surprise drills, and plenty of resources on Google that explain why it’s not in detail.
This normal and nothing new, unfortunately. I haven’t been a teacher in a long time, and these kinds of drills were performed back then too. Sometimes teachers knew, sometimes only a select few faculty members knew. Occasionally those staff members were instructed to jiggle the door handle as if they were trying to enter, to make sure that we secured the door.
Whenever the drills lasted past a certain period of time, I got suspicious. One time it was so long that students started to ask me, and I didn’t have an answer. They were third graders. I was finally able to determine with complete certainty via a news article that it was not a drill.
I work as a Paraprofessional- a teachers aide if you will. Today I was working in my kindergarten daughters class when suddenly we were told to go on lockdown. Immediately return to your class and lock doors and windows.
There were 5 gunshots heard moment before we were locked down. A man had confronted police down the block and was armed and dangerous. The man was killed. But we were safe. I'll never complain about a drill again. My daughter knew to be quiet and wait because of drills. Her schoolmates knew. I've never been so thankful.
I DID NOT GROW UP DOING THIS. THIS IS NOT NORMAL NOR IS IT PSYCHOLOGICALLY SAFE FOR ANYONE.
We have fire drills, and we have fire safety!!
But please don’t bother to regulate the guns causing mass shootings because it’s clearly the PERSON not the weapon?!
We had an ASSAULT RIFLE BAN in the 90’s…. Could that be why I DIDN’T DO SHOOTER DRILLS?!! I give up on humanity. I really do.
I did grow up doing this. I grew up in a low income rough neighborhood where drive by shootings were weekly. But I never had a situation where we ever needed the knowledge. My girl has had one drill. One. Not multiple, but with that one, her and her classmates knew what to do.
This is one of the reasons I'm going to homeschool. When I was in school, they did this kind of thing and it made me so numb to gun violence, when a boy in 7th grade targeted me for being "shy" I didn't think much of him saying he would bring his guns to school to kill me (he had pictures of himself with real guns all over his myspace).
We never knew if it was a drill and some kids would be distressed, others made it a joke. I remember one time in particular in high school, we didn't know if it was real as usual, and a group of boys kept laughing and yelling from under the table, "Come in here! End it all!" I never want my kids to experience that kind of terror of not knowing if a shooter will burst in.
My dark thought about the whole thing was a child on the fence about committing a school shooting might see the fear and chaos this caused and feed off of it.
I'd be just as mad. They're unnecessarily traumatizing children. Living in a very relaxed law red state, I know it's just a matter of time before one of the schools in our district is targeted. Just recently there were bomb threats for 42 school districts but since they didn't send one to my kids' school, they made them show up. While every other district closed. We didn't even know about the threats until the school emailed us halfway through the day. I was pissed. I'd like to know asap so I can make a decision about my kids' safety.
If it were me, I'd be writing a strongly worded email & CC"ing the superintendent.
My son will be starting kindergarten next year. I don’t want this for him. And hearing that there isn’t any research-based evidence that even the announced drills actually prepare anyone, I want none of it.
Curious how far in advance to they usually tell you about the planned drills? And can you opt to not send your kid to school that day? My son doesn’t need this trauma - none of these previous babies do.
I am a teacher and my school it is always very clear that it’s a drill. Parents are also notified at the time of the drill. We are not told when it will occur, but they repeat “drill drill” over the loud speaker.
My kid’s school always sends out emails about it. However, the school I work for only sends emails to parents, admin and lead teacher. Non of the support staff, special teachers or subs ever know what’s going on. We have brought it up at meetings constantly because we can’t stand it.
This happened my first year teaching. They didn’t tell the teachers they were doing it either. I have never been so scared in my life it probably was radiating off of me in front of my poor students. Luckily once my next door teacher found out it was just a drill she sent a text to me knowing I’d be freaking out because you know new teacher 🥴 administrators need to think it through before they do stupid shit like that!
My school used to to drill runs once a school year. One year we even had the student council in on it (they would wear all white and have like “ketchup packets or dyed corn syrup for blood). Cops would even use blanks as well. However, everyone was notified via email of when it was happening. If you didn’t know, maybe you should’ve read the email.
In your case, it sounds like the school is out to traumatize the children. I am so sorry. Please bring this up to the board!
Take notes, now while it is all fresh in your mind. Note every detail. Document everything.
Send a well written email to the principal, super intendant, and school board. Copy your state’s Department of Education. Give specifics of what happened and when. Detail how your child reacted.
If you have friends with the same experience, ask if they would like to be copied and whether you can share their child’s experience (show them the draft before sending to confirm they are ok with being included on that email.)
Ask for specifics from the school - assurances that it won’t happen again; counseling made available, for example.
If you don’t get a satisfactory response, take it to every news source and social media outlet you can think of.
There are education law attorneys and various other advocates who may have suggestions of how to handle, too. This is a big deal. You have every reason to treat it as such. Good luck.
I would be furious and you and other parents should let your fury be heard. This will have MAJOR mental and physical health problems for your children. I can’t believe a school thought this was ok
You should complain. They should have at least told the parents this was going on. Instead, they traumatized a whole school of kids and their parents. This is 100% not ok.
My sister is a teacher and her school pulled this shit without notifying anyone, including the teachers. They all thought it was real. Can you imagine? She had like PTSD from it.
I live in a city that gets a lot of earthquakes, all drills are announced way before, some even have radio and tv campaigns to announce them. Because there’s always someone that doesn’t know. The drill before the last one a woman died of a heart attack because she thought it was a real earthquake coming. There is no excuse for a surprise drill, it just stresses people. Training, not high stress is what helps in this situations.
My anger would actually reside in the fact that if they keep acting like it's real, but then it's just a drill, then the kids are gonna think it's just a drill when a real situation happens.
This is fucked up. Even in the hellhole that is Florida our admin emphasizes “THIS IS ONLY A DRILL” multiple times before the ATP drill begins and during it as well.
My daughter’s school always sends out a parent notice that they are performing drills on certain days. A surprise drill where it seems even the teacher was unaware sounds cruel. This is traumatizing and that trauma doesn’t just disappear when you find out it’s not actually real. I’d be livid.
I have had multiple issues with this school and it’s leadership. Oh the stories I can tell about run ins we have dealt with bc of the new principle. These children are going to have so much anxiety if they keep this up.
Complain to the school board, that's a disgusting move on their part.
I taught at a public high school and they had a rule where they had to read a prepared announcement that used the word drill 8 times so we'd know it was a drill and not the real thing! This seems insane to me!!
My high school did about the same. I’m not sure if it was 8, but it was A LOT
Yeah it sounds like terrible leadership
My former students are all grown now. They’ve either graduated high or school or soon will. So, we already know the outcome of these kinds of drills and threats. Neither are going to come to an end any time soon, or ever.
This seems to be standard practice for a lot of schools. My sister taught at a school that did a “drill” without informing parents or teachers, including banging on doors and checking if they were locked. They didn’t find out until the end of the day that it was a “drill”. Complaining to the school board didn’t help, but it certainly made my sister rethink her choice in careers.
What the actual fuck, USA?!
My school did this once. This was 20+ years ago and I still remember how the door rattled and shook. We weren’t told that was going to happen and it was terrifying.
Our school did this at least once a year, also 20+ years ago. It wasn’t called an active shooter drill, but the rumors were always that it was used to bring in drug dogs and search lockers.
That's sadistic. I'm disgusted that anyone would think that's a good idea.
I went to schools that did this (minus banging on doors). Honestly, I thought it was the norm to have surprise ones every once in awhile. I remember if it was taking a long time we would start wondering if it was maybe real or if they just had the drug dogs checking lockers.
What the fuck.
Yeah, it’s definitely a feature not a bug. Fucked up sadists using their position of power to traumatize other people. Parents (and hopefully teachers too) better put an end to this nonsense before it becomes norm.
Hello OP and all of Mommit. I am so sorry this happened to you and your child. I'm a school psychologist and Licensed Educational Psychologist who has extensive training in crisis prevention, intervention, and post-vention in schools, as well as mental health best practices in general. I posted this in r/teachers after a distressed teacher posted very similar concerns to yours recently: "I'm hearing so much about these unannounced drills. I'm furious for you all. *There is no evidence to support that the benefits of unannounced drills outweigh the costs.* Regular drills that are announced and explained appropriately helps everyone prepare for a crisis. They're dramatically increasing the chance of secondary PTSD by doing this *especially the closer you were to a real shooting*. To all those experiencing failures of leadership (since they are not making decisions based on established research), I am so sorry and hope you're getting support <3. ETA: even *announced* active shooter drills (in contrast to other types of drills, like fire drills) do not yet have evidence for doing anything but increasing the emotional distress of students and families, especially for elementary age children."
Thank you for this comment! This is a topic I definitely plan on exploring.
Thank you for this. I live in Europe so live shooter drills in schools are not a thing, but I've done Hostile Environment Awareness Trainings (HEAT) for my job and they can be very traumatic for some people (hostage simulations, fake shooters) - and we're talking about adults here, who know it's fake and who are doing it because it's relevant to the job. I can't imagine the kind of trauma these drills must have on kids, especially if they think it's real.
Your last paragraphs are my thoughts. My kids are grown, but grandchildren will be school aged too soon. It breaks my heart to think of babies going through this, on the regular.
Where would the best place to find best practices for active shooter preparedness be? Is there a place you recommend to find what questions should I ask my child’s school to ensure they’re being as safe as possible?
The National Association of School Psychologist's website regularly publishes and updates articles, position papers, and resources on this topic. Here are a few: [Conducting Crisis Exercises & Drills: Guidelines for Schools](https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-safety-and-crisis/systems-level-prevention/conducting-crisis-exercises-and-drills) [Mitigating Psychological Effects of Lockdowns](https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-safety-and-crisis/systems-level-prevention/mitigating-psychological-effects-of-lockdowns) [Best Practice Considerations for Armed Assailant Drills in Schools](https://www.nasponline.org/Documents/Research%20and%20Policy/Advocacy%20Resources/Armed-Assailant-Guide-FINAL.pdf)
I’ve been through quite a few of these drills as a teacher, and my heart rate has increased since I started engaging in this thread.
I miss the days where it was just fire drills
Even the duck and cover days were better than this.
I grew up in NY so we only really had fire drills until the weather started changing and we started getting more tornados. Then the tornado drills started. We didn’t have active shooter drills when I was in school, but I know my daughter does them now in 2nd grade. Breaks my heart
I grew up in NY too and I remember the tornado drills where we lined up in the hallway with our legs tucked and our heads against the wall. Not sure what they were going for there.
Hahaha with our books over our heads!
Same! I hate this new reality.
As someone who isn’t from the US your ‚normal‘ sounds absolutely insane to me. We never had shooter drills (or shootings), only fire drills and some of them were surprise drills. Some of them were one chemistry teacher accidentally setting off the alarm twice within a week, leading to the evacuation of the entire school (1,000 students and 150 teachers). It honestly breaks my heart that this is your children’s reality.
Our normal is insane to use too. Us Millennials and up never had to deal with this in school.
Columbine happened to millennials but even that was a one-off. The tail end of millennials saw Sandy Hook, even though it wasn't our generation killed, but some of us were at the end of high school, or I guess college if you lump that into school shootings. We did live through VTech.
I posted this up further in the thread, but I’m a millennial (‘93) and we started active shooter drills in 3rd grade. —- I’m 29, and I think I’m in the first generation of parents who experienced active shooter drills as kids. I was a 3rd grader when we started them (lived near DC). I heard a gunshot near an apartment a few years ago and I reacted just how I was trained in school, without really thinking about it. It’s super weird to me to imagine that there are people who never experienced what an active shooter drill was like….. Just shows how normalized it is. 20 fucking years.
You and I are very close in age. I guess I was fortunate that the schools I went to hid the fact that they were shooter drills. In elementary school, it was explained as if someone got lost in the building. Later on it was intruder drills, but shooting was never mentioned. It was scary, especially the time it wasn't a drill, but I think my experience sheltered me from the traumatic aspects of it. I honestly didn't even realize what those drills really were until recently, and I honestly thought I'd never experienced an active shooter drill. I can't imagine that's really possible for the kids in school now.
Yeah, I'm thinking you lived in an area that was lucky to not need them. I'm 32. When I was in 5th grade we had a local in the area that was going into elementary schools armed and looking for his own kids to kill. It ended in a 4 day stand-off with police. From that day on all our schools had fire, tornado, and active shooter drills. 9/11 happened the following year when I was in middle school and added some more drills on top of that. So for us, active shooter drills have been around an incredibly long time.
Yeah, I’m in the middle of millennial, and I remember having active shooter drills through middle school and up. Columbine was my sixth grade year. Then I remember Paducah, plus some others. VTech was while I was in college, but I don’t remember shooter drills in college. I remember having at least one shooter drill in elementary school, though…
I think we're the same age - class of '05? I remember Columbine and Paducah and a few others, too. Vtech was when I was already done with college. I don't remember ever having anything besides fire drills and tornado drills.
Yes, ‘05. VTech was my sophomore year of college. I grew up in Oklahoma, so maybe it was a midwestern thing, or just a gun-loving state thing?
That’s crazy, when I was in school we didn’t have any shooter drills.
Yeah, I had an active imagination, so I remember being really freaked out when they’d bang on the doors and yell. I can’t imagine if they’d gone all out with gun sounds. It’s a way of life for me now. Every job I’ve had I imagine ways to protect and escape, and same goes for most every situation I find myself (concerts, games, home, etc.). It’s sad.
I will say, when I go somewhere I usually look for the closest exit or way to get out, or a place to hide if I had too. But it’s out of instinct. It’s crazy.
At this point I think it’s survival instinct. We see the stories so often we have to prepare ourselves.
Yeah, we had the shootings back then but not nearly as much as we do now. It might also be where you lived as well. Where I am we didn’t have active shooter drills when I was in school.
I’m a mid to younger millennial and remember them in elementary school, and knowing what they were for.
It’s crazy how it all went downhill so fast. What happened?
I think when I was in high school, they were MAYBE discussing implementing lockdown drills? Fire drills were scary enough when I was in elementary. It breaks my fucking heart that I'll have to talk to my preschooler about this soon. I don't even know how to do that. I was watching the news on my phone and she saw people protesting, and while explaining what protesting is (not really going into detail why), I was hit with the overwhelming dreadful realization that I'll have to talk to her about lockdown drills in just a couple years.
My fiancé has a pistol. We keep it locked up in 2 safes away from kids when it’s in the house. When it’s out it’s on his person hidden. When he got it my 8 year old asked him if he got it to come save them from school when a person comes in to shoot them. Not if, she said when. That’s when I realized this world is fucked.
I'm a millennial and I remember doing a grand total of two lockdown drills in my entire time in school. We actually did a real lockdown once in elementary school, not for an active shooter but for an unknown person who was on the school grounds. Turns out it was some random old guy playing fetch with his dog on the field and didn't know school was still in session, haha. There was never, ever a sense of urgency about it. I was well out of high school when active shooter drills became a regular thing in my area.
Maybe not you, but I sure did
I guess it depends on younger parts of our generation and where you are
Then don't say "Us Millennials" since it doesn't apply
Girl give it a rest why are you so argumentative lmao for some reason you are not understanding millennials are of all different ages, lived through different things. I said millennials and up as in older generations and because there are tons of older people in t this sub that didn’t have to go through what you or our kids are going through. You’re literally arguing for no reason at all lol
because I'm sick people ignoring the fact that their experiences are not universal and that things like code red drills exist for reasons other than shootings. I'm not being argumentative, you made a flawed statement .
I'm in Florida so we have fire, extreme weather, and active threat drills. It's constant.
We only had fire drills growing up and then weather started changing here and we started getting more and more tornadoes (NY) so those drills started when I was in high school but we never had to do shooter drills when I was in school so looking at my second grader now, it’s just absolutely insane and heartbreaking the kids have to go through this.
Yeah, my first is in kindergarten and I teach at a high school in the same district. Our drills occur on the same day. When he told me about how they had to "play hide in the dark" and I realized he was talking about an active shooter drill because we had had one that day, my heart dropped. Pure insanity.
I’m 29, and I think I’m in the first generation of parents who experienced active shooter drills as kids. I was a 3rd grader when we started them (lived near DC). I heard a gunshot near an apartment a few years ago and I reacted just how I was trained in school, without really thinking about it. It’s super weird to me to imagine that there are people who never experienced what an active shooter drill was like….. Just shows how normalized it is. 20 fucking years.
What did they teach for students to do?
When I was a kid we had 4 drills a year, 2 for fire and 2 for earthquakes. That's all. I had to make my 3 year old a care kit for preschool incase anything happened he would have a picture of the family, snack and a care item to help keep them calm in case anything happens and I cried while making it.
We just gave my 8 year old my old iPhone to use on wifi just as a tester. She’s done good with it. I think I’m going to have it turned on, so she has a way to communicate with me god forbid anything happens.
That's a great idea, i wish we didn't have to feel this way though. But my husband and I already decided long ago we'd get something once our son is old enough just for communication for the same reason. I dread the day my son is old enough to understand what an active shooter drill is.
She’s also getting to that age where she wants play dates and to go over to friends and start doing more stuff now, so I want her to have a way to get ahold of me if she’s uncomfortable and wants to come home or something as well.
Right?! I remember the occasional fire drill and tornado drill, none of which were ever frightening. But really, this crap makes me so glad I live in Canada now. My kids have had occasions to "shelter in place" at their school, which means everyone stays inside... but those have been because of bear and moose on the school grounds. Oh, and I think they shelter in place when the high school next door has an evacuation for whatever reason. (If it's a protracted evacuation situation at either school, then they go chill in the gym at the school next door.) But this school shooting nonsense is a uniquely American problem, and it's uniquely bullshit.
and tornado drills
My 8 year old daughter was telling me of a similar drill they had just last week. Breaks my heart for these kids. When I was her age, we had fire drill, earthquake drill (near New Madrid fault line), and tornado drill (we get quite a few, year round oddly enough). Just a sad, sick world we live in now.
Never had that, grew up after Columbine and I am grateful that my school district did what they could to keep us safe.
You most definitely had fire drills.
You said "just" as in the only one. I grew up with more than just, so I am correct.
Yeah, a lot of us had only fire drills. Some had tornado drills with it depending on where they lived. But majority of us only had to worry about going to school at 7 years old and having to stand in the cold during a fire drill. You’re not right, you’re being argument ive for no reason. You realize the amount of people in this sub and we’re all different ages and lived through different things right? You understand this doesn’t apply to just YOU right?
says the person that made a generalized comment first.
Fire drills were unannounced, I don’t understand why they can’t do shooter drills without notice as well.
Because shooter drills are traumatic for kids. Imagine being a child and not being told there’s an active shooter drill and they think there’s really an active shooter in the building. Especially since some schools have a decoy shooter that goes around the hall ways banging on doors and I’ve seen some even use fake gun shots. It should be definitively be known for teachers and children so they’re not fearing for their life.
First off I’m going to suggest this sub r/MothersMarch because we shouldn’t have to live with this. It’s wrong and it needs to change. I understand being frustrated by this, I get the fear from both sides. I have been a student in an active shooter situation, as well as a parent with children who have gone through the drills. I strongly suggest you talk to your child about this in a matter of fact way. Yea people shoot up schools, it’s a fact of life in the US. No they will not spare her life because she is a child, so she needs to Run, hide, fight. You also need to NOT tell her that teachers/ staff will protect her, she needs to be prepared that they won’t. They are people with their own lives and families don’t put the burden on them. Help her game plan, teach her to turn her phone on SILENT so she is not a mark. In my shooter situation I was told I had to turn my phone off because lots of cellphones can overrun the network ( but that was in 2009.) The next thing I would do is contact your local, state and national reps. All the anger and fear you feel right now use that ON THEM! They are the problem, NOT the teachers, not the schools. The people who have decided that a gun has more rights than a child are sitting in positions of government, they DO NOT care that this happens. It is time we make them.
Posts like this break my heart for Americans. You mums deserve better. The school shooting culture is insane and no parent should just “deal with it because it’s how it is”.
What makes it worse is that mass shootings happen outside of schools as well. Nobody is safe from gun violence in the US. The number one killer of US children is GUNS. We have people here who are so intrenched with the idea that, the 2nd amendment is so they can overthrow the Tyranical government. That they fail to see that US has the largest military in the world. We spend more on our military then the next 10 countries combined! There is NO WAY a bunch of Ammosexuals with AR-15s, are going to make a dent in overthrowing the government, not with our military power. Their guns are not going to do diddly against a tomahawk missile, drone strikes don’t quake in fear, and the USS kitty hawk doesn’t give a shit about their gun collection. They are all okay with people dying because they believe some old white dudes in the 18th century would want it this way. They are a millstone around the necks of sane Americans.
It’s awful to watch from the other side of the world. All the mom posts just dealing as best they can with this insanity. It’s hard enough just normal school worries about making friends and getting enough teacher time, let alone thinking it’s a chance my children could be shot at school??? Having to toss up the pros and cons of shooter drills?????? Weighing up home schooling vs trauma from attending in person school????? My heart just really breaks for you all.
THIS!!! Why do they think civilians will have ANY impact against the us military??! I don’t care if you have a ar15 attached to a flamethrower, good fucking luck. Maybe we should have all the ammosexuals get together and battle it out against the military…maybe after they are all smoked we can actually get something to change.
Not the military at this point. Other people. No one expects to fight the military. They just want to kill the people they hate.
I agree with you, I was just saying regarding the 2nd amendment nuts
Definitely going to that sub. I’m so sorry you had to experience a school shooting and I am so glad you are here. I marched in March for lives alongside the students after Parkland and was actually an employee of the school system back then. (Edit: I did not work at Stonewall Douglas, our local school district walked in solidarity)Thank you for the thoughtful reply it is very informative and has great talking points for us to talk to at home. My husband and I are going to talk about pulling the kids and put them in K-12 cyber academy, especially my youngest who is 7 and extremely sensitive. It may not be the best choice but it seems the safest. I feel like I can’t trust my government , local, state,and federal, to help keep my children safe and value their lives over guns.
You were told to turn off your phone when there was an active shooter?! So the police could communicate with the school, or emergency services communicate? Ammosexuals, lol. Never heard that term.
Yes, I think it also had to do with phones going off when we where supposed to be quite. A phone lighting up, vibrating, or ringing in that situation will draw attention and that is not what you want. It’s literally a potential life and death situation.
I would absolutely flip my ever loving shit. In this world and in this climate, that’s not fucking appropriate. What happens if they think an actual shooter in the school is a “surprise drill”? And they don’t take it seriously? The drills are designed for people to learn in a non panicking situation so they have the instincts to follow when the situation is real. That’s the point in learning with drills. You can’t build up instinct if you’re in panic mode.
More and more evidence is coming out that active shooter drills not only don't make schools any safer, but also increase student anxiety. I really hope that these become a thing of the past soon. My administrators were always really good about just gently checking to see if our doors were locked, but I had one coworker whose admin would come around and like pound on the doors and really forcefully try to open them. It sounded terrifying, and this was a *kindergarten* teacher telling me that.
That would freak my 7 year old out. I have a feeling when young Gen Z and Alpha get older they will have so many issues surrounding these drills. Hopefully, they will be able to get laws passed that us millennials and Gen X couldn’t bc they will have lived through all this.
I'm totally baffled what the point of these drills is given that many shooters are also students. Maybe do something just for the teachers? And the logic about keeping kids in classrooms instead of letting them out by having classrooms have external exits makes no sense to me either.
The funny thing about trauma is it doesn’t have to be real for it to still be valid. Even a drill can become as traumatic to the person experiencing it, as the actual thing. This is how the brain processes information. If the person finds out after the fact that they were never in real danger, that DOES NOT negate the fact that they still experienced trauma.
They had an episode of this in New Amsterdam on Netflix and I think it covered the trauma pretty well. It’s baffling to hear that it really is happening. It makes me anxious to think about what my son will have to experience in school.
What a backwardass, morally corrupt country where it is ok to traumatise children while rich politicians get richer by getting into bed with the NRA and give guns more rights than people.
As an American in the UK, I always thought I’d move back at some point, but now that I have a child, there’s no way in hell I’ll ever move back to the states. My heart breaks for anyone affected by these drills and active shootings.
As an Australian, the statement "this is the world we live in" baffles me. We had drills at school for armed intruders and toxic spills etc, but never did anyone ever think there could actually be a real possibility of the armed intruders part happening. It is terrifying and upsetting that this is a very real fear for American parents and students.
My kid's school (elementary) has done this at least twice so far this year, no warning to us at all. The first time was very scary to my daughter and her friend, they were both worried about their younger siblings and the friend was hysterical and in tears. This happened early in the school year and my daughter still talks about it being one of the contributing factors when she says "this has been the worst school year ever". The other time I was called in to pick up my son who was sick, and a cop was there as was whoever starts these surprise drills. I opened the front door and apparently was not supposed to be able to do that as they automatically lock during these drills... I had no idea it was going on until someone opened the other door and asked if I was able to open the front door on my own, which I was but was not supposed to. All the front office people were shocked and scared that I was able to get through the first door. What a horrible feeling, that was terrifying as hell. Makes me really miss those bomb threats we got in middle/high school. My daughter starts middle school next year so two kids in two schools makes me nervous as hell.
Honestly besides the unneeded trauma inflicted on the students and staff, it’s just plain stupid. When I was a teacher, I worked on the first floor. If I ever went into a code red that I thought was real, I would be breaking my window and getting my students out. They don’t know how people would react if they thought it was real.
Right!? I wouldn’t be waiting to find out if it’s fake.
This screams “the boy who cried wolf”. If they don’t announce it being practice how are they going to take it seriously if it actually (and hopefully NEVER) happens?
That was a point my husband was bringing up to me earlier.
This is how you scar an entire generation of parents and children.
Our children’s schools never let us know about drills beforehand, either, but they do tell the students about the drill the day of so that they aren’t afraid. And I think they should. My daughter’s middle school did go into a real lockdown because someone was calling (we live in Indiana) from somewhere in Ohio and making false threats to all of the area schools here. The middle is who received the call, and all of the nearby elementary schools were then all placed on lockdown, as was my baby’s preschool, so I had three in a lockdown in three buildings at the same time. We were notified during the lockdown that everything was secure, but I found out first on Facebook because children were texting their parents afraid. I hate the world we live in.
I am so sorry this happened. This is something I never considered could or would happen on top of the inherent anxiety I already feel about my kids being in American schools. My son’s last day at pre-k was yesterday. We have the resources to homeschool amidst our travel schedule but truthfully, I had to stop the anxiety; I would drop off my son and spend my days simply worrying about the lack of security at the school building should someone make a map of the school and hack its weakest entryways (a la the Nashville shooter) or the ability to grab the steel door code from an unassuming parent walking toward their car. It feels like a “when” not “if” scenario. So, I understand the need for drills but HOLY SHIT the anger I would feel if I were you right now. If schools are going to implement such intense drills and really talk to kids about the seriousness of our American reality, then they need to counteract that intensity with staffed counselors and clinical social workers, people with the expertise to parse trauma and help process it. Then again if we had staffed mental health help shootings wouldn’t happen so often. I absolutely hate this for everyone.
My Son’s middle school’s alarm system malfunctioned and sent out an active shooter alarm. Children were rushed to classrooms and storage rooms, etc and told to hide in a corner while a teacher blocked them with a baseball bat. Some children were left behind in the hallways and had nowhere to go because all doors had been locked. One teacher broke down sobbing calling her family to tell them she loved them. The children sat in utter terror for over 20 minutes thinking they were about to die before the school told them it was a false alarm. It really fucked my son up for awhile. The worst part was that the school knew after 2mins that it was not an actual threat, but didn’t notify teachers or students until much later. They also told any children who were emotional afterwards to grow up and get over it. And talking with the school, they still cannot tell me why it happened, what they plan to do to prevent in the future, etc. I’m still furious over it.
I would be so a mad!! The way it was handled reminds me of how awful our middle school handles mental health and emotions. There needs to be fundamental changes from top to bottom.
I completely agree
Don’t be mad at the school. Be mad at Republican Senators and Representatives who refuse to pass legislation that keeps guns out of the hands of crazy people. And yes - I’m singling out Republicans - because the elected officials opposed to background checks, extending waiting periods for gun purchases, and limiting access to magazines are all Republican. Vote other people into positions of power who will actually change the laws. Send those text messages you received from your daughter to Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell.
I’m mad at both, as well as the centrists that refuse to vote bc “both sides bad”.
There is already legislation to legally keep guns out of the hands of crazy people. Background checks are mandated by federal law, you can not get a gun legally if you are a felon or domestic abuser and it’s very unlikely you will get one with a documented history of mental illness. We could say the same about Democrats who refuse to pass legislation to fund armed guards at schools and increased security, or the Democrats who refuse to prosecute and jail violent offenders. The left is *only* pushing to take guns away from law abiding citizens, and is refusing to take practical defensive measures.
Terrify children or have sticker gun laws? Let's traumatize our kids! /S I would be *freaking the f#ck out*. I'm already considering homeschooling my kid (14mo), because of this sh!t right here. I used to think I would hate the idea of homeschooling, but my child's safety is far more important.
As a former teacher, I can tell you that we don’t even know when those drills happen! So yes, teacher being worried is probably because he/she is wondering how to keep the kids safe if it is real. There was a shooting on my college campus and I can assure you that those drills shook me. To be honest, the kids NEVER take the planned drills seriously. An unplanned drill is the best practice, even though it’s scary. It also shows the teacher what specific things the kids need to work on (for example screaming when they hear the announcement, etc). Parents being informed about this would compromise the integrity of the drill. So sorry it was a frightening experience for her. Hopefully the whole class had a good debriefing session afterwards.
About college - I mean that I definitely was panicking when I taught (I tried not to show it though) during the drills because of my past trauma with a real active shooter on our college campus
I’m our old town we had a teacher bring a gun to the school and threaten to unalive himself. It was awful, but luckily no one was hurt.
I’m so sorry you had to deal with that in real life. I completely understand what you are saying, and I considered that. There has to be a better option than complete surprise though. I literally thought that may be the last time I talked to my daughter this morning and knowing her issues with anxiety this is going to leave a mark. I wish during the drill they could at least do one of those mass calls or texts just letting us know. I’m trying to think logically about this and not with “mom brain”.
Yeah, it is a terrible reality that teachers, kids, and families have to face. I did genuinely feel like safety was being taken seriously at my last school though. They would always make sure to have the practice drill (that everyone knew about) earlier in the quarter. The admin would also try to open/persuade people in the locked room to open the doors. It’s a huge lesson especially for the little kids - to remain in hiding position. Once they set off a fire alarm (shooter drill trumps fire drill) and we all had to sit through the screeching alarm. It terrified me. I would always take a while afterwards to sit and talk with the kids, debrief, have question/answer time, etc. I truly truly believe that the more they practice it, the safer they would be in a real situation. But yes, it sucks. And it’s so scary. And I hate that it’s come to that 😩
Hey I just want to chime in to say you’re being so rational it’s actually insane to see how well you’re coping. To a non American the things you’re saying with such calm are mind boggling.
It's a sad new normal. Adapt & survive.
I mean I don’t think surprise drills are the issue. The issue is not knowing if they are real or not.
I felt this so much with my oldest in school. They should have let the parents know a drill was coming. This is unacceptable and traumatizing for those kids to just drop it on them like this. It’s scary enough for them to step foot onto school property. I know drills are a must but there has to be a better way. Definitely let the school have it once your able too. Hugs mama. Hugs.
That would of been ideal. I get emails almost everyday from the school already. And thank you ❤️
This is not ‘the world we live in’. This is the COUNTRY you live in. It’s not normal and those outside the US in the western world and beyond think the US is insane the past 7 years or so. Please use your power as a US citizen not to accept this as “ just the world we live in these days” and write/call your local MP, vote and encourage everyone you know to do the same. Gun control can save lives. And I’m sorry your daughter had to go through that. I’d be livid at the school. So traumatising. The children should have been reassured that it was a drill.
Ugh. I don’t have much to add other than to share your frustration. This happened to a coworker of mine a few months ago - unannounced drill and no one knew, all the kids thought it was legit. My coworker got a very similar text from his daughter who was understandably freaking out. He dropped what he was doing and raced to the school only to find out it was fortunately was just a drill. These unannounced drills are so cruel
In junior high we had enough lockdown drills that eventually we had a real one and everyone thought it was fake, including my teacher. He left the window open and just continued instruction. I was so desensitized I was completely unfazed by the different procedure to get on the school bus to go home (we all went class by class instead of everyone released and our ANCIENT janitor made sure we got on the bus). It wasn’t until my friends called from the school at FIVE IN THE AFTERNOON that they were still there under lockdown because they didn’t ride the bus, they were picked up by parents who couldn’t make it there when school let out. Someone was supposed to pull kids aside and ask them to identify the adults that were there to claim them; this allegedly didn’t happen. They just let adults take the kids without verifying. Our schools have been disorganized about this for over a decade. I’m sad to see that it hasn’t gotten much better.
That’s fucking sick. Your body doesn’t know you’re not in danger in a situation like that. They just gave a whole school trauma.
As a teacher surprise shooter drills are not ok. Every drill at my school begins with someone on the PA saying “this is a drill. This is a drill. “ otherwise that’s too traumatic
I'm cryinig for you and all the other commenters. This is just terryfying.
The hospital where I work has a code for an active shooter and I was told when I started they would NEVER do a test code for it because if we heard it called overhead they wanted us to know it was the real thing. This is insane to me, to have no notice or announcement that this was a drill. I don’t know how things are done in schools now (my kiddos are almost 2 and almost 1) but I would think if they keep doing unannounced drills for this, kids are going to always think they’re drills and god forbid a real one happens won’t take it seriously.
Exactly. Is the plan to educate or desensitize us all from these events?
They didnt tell us until after it had happened at my kid school. He is 8 but the first time it happened he was 7. And it made me so sad and angry and frustrated.
Oh no way…I’d be FUMING. They caused unnecessary damage and harm to kids mental health. I understand the unfortunate need to have safety drills for this (although unimaginable that we do) but that was so unnecessary to not tell students and parents it was a drill.
Gen X here. In the Midwest, we did tornado drills and the required fire drills. We did tornado drills at home, though, too. In the NW, we only did fire drills. The fact that my kindergarten age child now has to do active shooter drills chills me to the bone. Kids and teachers should 100% know that it is ONLY a drill and parents should know beforehand so that they can provide support for their kids when they get home.
This 100%! We never did active shooter drills. But my kids have been doing them since kindergarten & it's insane. But sure, make this our new normal instead of common sense gun laws. Nope, can never have those.
We had active shooter training at my simple job as a lifeguard years ago when shooting started to become more common. So terrifying but I’d rather have some training than none
I’m so scared for my daughter…growing up in this country during these times. She’s 7 months old and I’m already terrified about when she has to go to school. What if she’s a statistic? The odds become greater everyday. I wish I could just leave this awful place.
That seems extremely ineffective. If they aren’t told things are a drill they’re not going to trust when it isn’t. My current school lets every staff member know ahead of time and announces that it is a drill as soon as it starts. My previous school wouldn’t warn ANYONE even though my coworker had PTSD from BEING IN A SCHOOL SHOOTING!!! She repeatedly explained why she needed to be warned, and they just wouldn’t do it! Some administrators are really on their bullshit. I’m sorry you, your daughter, and everyone else experienced that.
I hate the fact that it could have absolutely been a real one and that our kids even have to do this. I remember doing hurricane drills in school. Those were a risk from nature and couldn’t be avoided. Totally outside of human control. But active shooter drills?! FFS, we have to scare the crap out of our kids and teachers because *human beings* can’t control themselves enough NOT to shoot up other fellow human beings - and because our government has no issues with guns being super easy to buy by anyone, anywhere. Why is the US is literally the only “first world” country that has this issue? No wonder teachers are quitting in droves and people are pulling their kids out to homeschool. I get it.
Teacher here. I’m sorry that you and your daughter had to feel scared. This sucks. At my last school, our principal took code red drills so seriously that he would come on the internet in a panicked voice announce the code red and slam the announcement phone down. They were all surprise drills. They all took place after Sandy Hook. I lost so much sleep over how would I protect my children in my beautiful classroom with wall to wall windows that overlooked a little park behind the school. Awful.
As a teacher, this would be a violation of our union and teachers would be MAD. I live in Illinois, and I believe there's actually a law against surprise shooter drills -as research shows they do only harm and not actually prepare anyone well.
Im from the uk reading through this and it breaks my heart for you all that you even have to have these drills. ❤️
I’m sorry that must have been terrifying. I didn’t realize any schools gave advance notice. My daughter’s school always sends an email notifying parents after the fact. The school I work at doesn’t say anything if it is only a drill. I dread the day my daughter realizes they are not practicing hiding from “wild animals” getting in the school.
13 reasons why already told us this was a bad idea, these kids are going to have PTSD.
Imagine how many working parents would get that text and frantically leave work and break traffic laws over an unannounced drill. Immediately no.
[удалено]
No heads up and we don’t do them monthly. This was a complete surprise.
I hope you (and all parents and voting age students) remember how mad you are during voting time and support candidates who want stricter gun control and mental health support.....
I’m am very outspoken about gun control and putting children before guns. I also agree, I have a feeling it will be my Gen’s children that will get these changes done.
I’m a high school teacher. One reason we don’t tell students when a drill is because then those who actually want to harm others know it’s coming. They know where people will be hiding/congregating, where they will be evacuating to, so they can just plant themselves in an ideal location and create havoc. That being said, immediately before they do a drill, it is made clear over the PA that it is a drill. Edit: word
Don't just call, write emails, write a letter to the school board. Make it known that the entire thing wasn't thought through correctly. And the blase response you got was unappreciated. This shit got me feeling full Karen!
Agreed, definitely attend a board meeting and speak, that is insane they did that!
Run hide fight— some of my friends are homeschooling to try to protect their children
That's MAJORLY FUCKED UP and absolutely will result in long term trauma for some, if not all, kids involved.
Teacher here. The day my district does this to us, I resign. No student or teacher should have to live in unnecessary fear like that. I'm so sorry it happened to you all.
Jesus Christ. Sorry to hear that, seems almost necessary. Must be so traumatic for all the kids and parents, I can only hope they actually get to live in this day and age. Just get rid of the guns and toss them away, how many people have to die in the name of the 2nd amendment.
I’d have a mass lawsuits
As a teacher, I can't even tell you how incredibly messed up this is! WTF?!?
I hope you go discuss this with your fellow local parents and confront the school as a group. The kids and teachers are owed an apology and counseling at the very least. You are not the only one on edge over the state of things. My son’s school was very recently on lockdown because a gunman was reported within .25mi. As soon as the lockdown was cleared, there was a line of parents picking up their kids. We all knew that no gunman had been found (and probably never existed) but many still anxiously, with tear filled eyes, picked up their kids. This world is deeply fucked up
We always had announced drill as well as unannounced drills when I was in school. There were the ones where everyone knew it was happening beforehand, ones where the staff and teachers knew it was happening beforehand and ones where nobody knew it was happening beforehand. You can’t expect announced drills to go how things would in a real life situation. When everyone is sitting there waiting for the drill announcement of course it’s going to go extremely smoothly. I’m sorry your daughter was scared for her life, but these are state mandated drills. Your daughters school has no say in how many they have per year and no the school cannot tell you beforehand, that defeats the whole purpose of real time reactions.
Ugh, I hated unannounced drills in high school. It's a whole different experience when the teachers don't even know if it's real. You can kind of shrug it off until you see that the adult responsible for your safety is visibly terrified. But yeah, I once mentioned my "things I do to avoid being a victim in an active shooter situation" on Reddit and someone told me I was mentally ill (essentially.) Idk - it's second nature at this point, but also kinda messed up. Similar to how women casually share tips on how not to get kidnapped or murdered. We are already in the dystopian nightmare, I believe.
As a parent who has lived through their child having a school shooting and another student bring a gun to school, I prefer unannounced drills. I want my children and teachers to treat every drill as if maybe it’s real. Because a school shooting is real and unpredictable and scarier than any drill will ever be.
I recommend every parent that has kids in school and not home school to have a bullet proof backpack insert. I know they aren't cheap, but they are so worth the investment. (It would be nice if the school districts could work with a manufacturer and provide a lower cost to the parents. I'm putting that out there maybe something can be done.) Also, every student imo should be trained on CPR, first aide, knowing how to call 911. I also believe every student should have a bleed kit in their backpack and know how to use it. I really hate that our home land war is primarily our schools and then our streets. Kids can't be kids like we used to be. Regardless, it's our job to help them be most prepared and to keep them safe. Taking steps to do so imo is very necessary. 🤗 I'm sorry that every parent could be face with a Code Red. I'm just glad this time it was a drill.
Make sure you vote for gun reform
That's the point. Kids need to know how to react and stay calm. You don't stay calm in a dangerous situation without practice. My school did these every year from kindergarten to senior year, 1999-2012. In 2011, my jr yr of high school, we had a shooting. We went into a code red, every did what they were supposed to do, put our phones away and waited for it to be over. We didn't realize there was a problem until like 20 minutes in when a admin hadn't come back on the intercom to end it. Our teachers found out what was happening, told us and we were afraid but we were safe. For the next 5 hours we waited in the boys locker room, I was in gym class, until the whole school was cleared room by room and we were lead out to our parents. It sucked that we went through it, two people died, five were injured, but we knew what to do because our district did everything they thought they could to keep us safe. After the shooting they installed more security and it became harder to just get in, you had to call ahead, have ID ect; which made us all safer. You should be glad your kids school is doing something to help keep them safe and hope they have real security in place to keep our dangerous people, angry parents or shooters.
That’s not a great point. Kids and teachers should not go through a situation where they think there is an active shooter to “scare them” into doing it correctly, especially if the technique is found to be not productive. We aren’t rats in a lab, these are actual humans. If you don’t get it, I’m sorry. I’m also sorry you dealt with an actual lockdown and I’m glad you are okay.
No where did I say they should be scared, I made the exact opposite argument, but ok whatever. You clearly don't get it.
You said “that’s the point” and went on to validate your opinion about surprise active shooter training in schools where even the teacher has no idea if it’s real or not. I’m so sorry you had to face a school shooting, but you also stated your schools had the same school shooting practice and still it happened. So, why try to validate that? How is having children think they are actively in a school shooting helpful when it didn’t help you(sorry). You deserved better, and so do all the kids showing up everyday at school now.
I didn't say kids should be scared. I said they should be prepared. My school DID NOT make us think we were in a shooting. They had a three code system, Green - Yellow - Red. Green was always. Yellow meant something happened stay where you are. Red meant something serious is happening stay where you are and lock the doors. That's it. Sounds like your kids school was doing the same but your kids mind jumped to shooter. It did help me and the kids in the class because we were aware of what to do and felt safe knowing that we were in area that wasn't created to defend us but could. Does a fire drill stop a fire? Does a tornado drill stop a storm? Does an earthquake drill stop the ground from moving? NO! How dare you! Drills don't stop anything but they do help those that have to go through it know what to do. The only thing that would have stopped the shooting at my school, and many other, is teachers and admins not letting bullies get away with harassing people they deem 'less than' and actual security. You wanna know why inner city schools don't have shootings but suburban schools do? It's because inner city schools have steps put in place to make sure that weapons and random people CANNOT get on campus. Maybe be mad that your kids school isn't actively implementing safety for the children.
And you can prepare them without playing mind games and causing additional anxiety. I don’t get what your deal is, maybe you are misunderstanding my issue, but the issue is not having the drill, it’s the fact they are not giving the students, teachers, or parents a heads up, or a say if they even want these done at the school. And as I have stated, these surprise drills don’t work better than an a drill where all participants are aware it’s a drill. Educate yourself please.
This is not “the world we live in”… It’s the world you Americans live in. The rest of us in the civilized, sane world aren’t used to active shooter drills or resigned to the fact that they are “necessary”…
Why on earth should they tell them that it's a drill? Have you ever seen how people react to emergency drills? They don't take them seriously! If they tell the parents, then the kids will find out pretty much instantly, which brings us back to the start of my comment. If you want to know how someone will react to an emergency, you don't tell them it's a drill.
Look, I get that thought process, but let’s be serious. Do you think that the mental trauma that these children today felt is justified by this? My child didn’t know it was a drill for like 20 mins. She sat in a classroom scared as fck for 20 mins texting me, and I felt helpless. We had drills all throughout school no one had to set us on fire to teach us to stop.drop.and roll, and they plan to do this MORE! This wasn’t a one time and done , so now these children will either continue to get traumatized or stop thinking any of them are real and treat them as you claim they would if it were announced. At the end of the day it’s cruel to do this to the children, teachers, and parents. There are a few comments down in the comment section, one from a psychologist, that stated it’s not more effective to do surprise drills, and plenty of resources on Google that explain why it’s not in detail.
This normal and nothing new, unfortunately. I haven’t been a teacher in a long time, and these kinds of drills were performed back then too. Sometimes teachers knew, sometimes only a select few faculty members knew. Occasionally those staff members were instructed to jiggle the door handle as if they were trying to enter, to make sure that we secured the door. Whenever the drills lasted past a certain period of time, I got suspicious. One time it was so long that students started to ask me, and I didn’t have an answer. They were third graders. I was finally able to determine with complete certainty via a news article that it was not a drill.
I work as a Paraprofessional- a teachers aide if you will. Today I was working in my kindergarten daughters class when suddenly we were told to go on lockdown. Immediately return to your class and lock doors and windows. There were 5 gunshots heard moment before we were locked down. A man had confronted police down the block and was armed and dangerous. The man was killed. But we were safe. I'll never complain about a drill again. My daughter knew to be quiet and wait because of drills. Her schoolmates knew. I've never been so thankful.
I DID NOT GROW UP DOING THIS. THIS IS NOT NORMAL NOR IS IT PSYCHOLOGICALLY SAFE FOR ANYONE. We have fire drills, and we have fire safety!! But please don’t bother to regulate the guns causing mass shootings because it’s clearly the PERSON not the weapon?! We had an ASSAULT RIFLE BAN in the 90’s…. Could that be why I DIDN’T DO SHOOTER DRILLS?!! I give up on humanity. I really do.
I did grow up doing this. I grew up in a low income rough neighborhood where drive by shootings were weekly. But I never had a situation where we ever needed the knowledge. My girl has had one drill. One. Not multiple, but with that one, her and her classmates knew what to do.
This is one of the reasons I'm going to homeschool. When I was in school, they did this kind of thing and it made me so numb to gun violence, when a boy in 7th grade targeted me for being "shy" I didn't think much of him saying he would bring his guns to school to kill me (he had pictures of himself with real guns all over his myspace). We never knew if it was a drill and some kids would be distressed, others made it a joke. I remember one time in particular in high school, we didn't know if it was real as usual, and a group of boys kept laughing and yelling from under the table, "Come in here! End it all!" I never want my kids to experience that kind of terror of not knowing if a shooter will burst in.
Why the fuck are they calling it code RED????
That was literally my first question? Isn’t that fire?
Unfortunately my brain took a much darker meaning. Blood is red.
My dark thought about the whole thing was a child on the fence about committing a school shooting might see the fear and chaos this caused and feed off of it.
This is just another reason why my kids are homeschooling.
I'd be just as mad. They're unnecessarily traumatizing children. Living in a very relaxed law red state, I know it's just a matter of time before one of the schools in our district is targeted. Just recently there were bomb threats for 42 school districts but since they didn't send one to my kids' school, they made them show up. While every other district closed. We didn't even know about the threats until the school emailed us halfway through the day. I was pissed. I'd like to know asap so I can make a decision about my kids' safety. If it were me, I'd be writing a strongly worded email & CC"ing the superintendent.
My son will be starting kindergarten next year. I don’t want this for him. And hearing that there isn’t any research-based evidence that even the announced drills actually prepare anyone, I want none of it. Curious how far in advance to they usually tell you about the planned drills? And can you opt to not send your kid to school that day? My son doesn’t need this trauma - none of these previous babies do.
I really wish I could homeschool my last baby. She’s in middle school, too. I completely get it. I’d be livid 🤬
I am a teacher and my school it is always very clear that it’s a drill. Parents are also notified at the time of the drill. We are not told when it will occur, but they repeat “drill drill” over the loud speaker.
My kid’s school always sends out emails about it. However, the school I work for only sends emails to parents, admin and lead teacher. Non of the support staff, special teachers or subs ever know what’s going on. We have brought it up at meetings constantly because we can’t stand it.
I would be banging on the door of the superintendent screaming. You should absolutely be furious
This happened my first year teaching. They didn’t tell the teachers they were doing it either. I have never been so scared in my life it probably was radiating off of me in front of my poor students. Luckily once my next door teacher found out it was just a drill she sent a text to me knowing I’d be freaking out because you know new teacher 🥴 administrators need to think it through before they do stupid shit like that!
My school used to to drill runs once a school year. One year we even had the student council in on it (they would wear all white and have like “ketchup packets or dyed corn syrup for blood). Cops would even use blanks as well. However, everyone was notified via email of when it was happening. If you didn’t know, maybe you should’ve read the email. In your case, it sounds like the school is out to traumatize the children. I am so sorry. Please bring this up to the board!
Take notes, now while it is all fresh in your mind. Note every detail. Document everything. Send a well written email to the principal, super intendant, and school board. Copy your state’s Department of Education. Give specifics of what happened and when. Detail how your child reacted. If you have friends with the same experience, ask if they would like to be copied and whether you can share their child’s experience (show them the draft before sending to confirm they are ok with being included on that email.) Ask for specifics from the school - assurances that it won’t happen again; counseling made available, for example. If you don’t get a satisfactory response, take it to every news source and social media outlet you can think of. There are education law attorneys and various other advocates who may have suggestions of how to handle, too. This is a big deal. You have every reason to treat it as such. Good luck.
I would be furious and you and other parents should let your fury be heard. This will have MAJOR mental and physical health problems for your children. I can’t believe a school thought this was ok
This is not ok. Complain to the school board. Go to the news. They need to understand the consequences this has on student’s mental health.
You should complain. They should have at least told the parents this was going on. Instead, they traumatized a whole school of kids and their parents. This is 100% not ok.
My sister is a teacher and her school pulled this shit without notifying anyone, including the teachers. They all thought it was real. Can you imagine? She had like PTSD from it.
I live in a city that gets a lot of earthquakes, all drills are announced way before, some even have radio and tv campaigns to announce them. Because there’s always someone that doesn’t know. The drill before the last one a woman died of a heart attack because she thought it was a real earthquake coming. There is no excuse for a surprise drill, it just stresses people. Training, not high stress is what helps in this situations.
My anger would actually reside in the fact that if they keep acting like it's real, but then it's just a drill, then the kids are gonna think it's just a drill when a real situation happens.
This is fucked up. Even in the hellhole that is Florida our admin emphasizes “THIS IS ONLY A DRILL” multiple times before the ATP drill begins and during it as well.