How are school lockdown drills affecting Rhode Island students?

Luis Hernandez: In response to the prevalence of school shootings over the past 25 years, many schools across the country have instituted active shooter drills. It’s considered a sign of the times, but a Rhode Island lawmaker isn’t sure that mandatory lockdown drills are good.

Joining me now is Barrington Representative Jennifer Boylan, chair of a legislative commission that’s looking into whether active shooter drills are causing anxiety and trauma for students. Representative Boylan, thanks so much for your time today. 

Jennifer Boylan: Thank you. 

Hernandez: First of all, could you just briefly describe for us how these active shooter drills work.  

Boylan: I can, but let me just preface it by saying that everyone agrees that we need to keep our kids safe at school. You did mention that lockdown drills are extremely prevalent in our country. Rhode Island law is specific that all K to 12 schools must do two lockdown drills a year. 

Some schools are having their kids turn off the lights, lock the school room doors and be silent, sometimes hiding in different areas of the classroom. I know for a while kids were supposed to hide under their desks. Some kids are being told to hide in a closet or maybe in a bathroom or a cubby hole in their room. I think it depends and its variable and that’s not consistent.  

Hernandez: And my understanding is that there’s a difference, right? There are drills and there are simulations. Do we know what schools are doing what? 

Boylan: We do not believe any schools in Rhode Island are doing simulations where they try to give a realistic scenario with children involved on what would go on during an active shooter or a crisis response in the school of an active shooter. There are certain school districts that do that type of training without students and on, for example, professional service days where there’s staff with law enforcement, but in the absence of students.  

Hernandez: You had a personal experience with a lockdown drill at your son’s school a few years ago, right? 

Boylan: Yes. I happened to be visiting my son’s school as a parent on Valentine’s Day; the very first Valentine’s Day right after the Sandy Hook shooting. I was given the opportunity to volunteer to go into a Valentine’s Day party. My son was in fourth grade. It was a time where all parents in our country were, were extremely fearful in the days and weeks after Sandy Hook.

When I arrived at the school, there was a lot of law enforcement in the parking lot. And I thought, what is going on? And I was told we’re about to do a lockdown drill during the Valentine’s Day party. I was with a teacher and a teacher’s assistant and a bunch of fourth graders. When we got the notification that the drill was happening, we were to lock the door to the classroom, draw the shades, which were rickety. Not all of them were able to come down. And then there was no closet, but there was like a hubby area in the classroom. 

We all huddled into this tiny little cubby area. There was no protection. It was just a recessed area of the room where the kids hung their coats. We had to be quiet for about 15 minutes with a bunch of kids. And the children were too young to really understand. Fourth graders at that time did not know about Sandy Hook. I mean, I had never discussed it with my child. The kids were oblivious, but me and the other two teachers were barely holding it together. It was just so raw and it was terrifying. 

I will say that during that drill – we were told this ahead of time – law enforcement was going to go up and down the hallway and check the doors to make sure they’re locked. Let me tell you, when they tried the door and shook it, we all jumped a mile. It was very frightening even though we knew that it was a drill. 

Hernandez: Do you think these drills are effective? How real does it have to be to help kids understand that something they know, something they do, could save their lives? As you said, these are very young children. They may not completely get it.

Boylan: My take on it is that it’s really important for the adults to know what to do, to feel really prepared. Especially young children, they’re going to do what their teacher asks of them in an emergency situation. It’s super important that staff and faculty and teachers, substitute teachers, the custodial staff, everyone, in the school situation feels prepared and confident in knowing what to do. The children will follow their lead. 

Hernandez: So my understanding of this commission is basically to find out the impact of what these lockdown drills do to kids and their mental health, but we still do have to prepare them, right? So what have you found so far? 

Boylan: What stands out in my mind most recently was at our last meeting we heard from a middle school student who is new to the state. She just moved to Rhode Island and experienced her first lockdown in Rhode Island. No one knew it was a drill. The teacher didn’t know and none of the kids were notified that it was a drill and they were terrified. It was traumatizing for her. 

One of the themes that’s come out in discussion in our study commission is the concept of advanced notification of drills There’s two types of notification. There’s advanced notification in which parents might be notified maybe the week of a drill or maybe two days before a drill so that they can have the opportunity to discuss it with their child.

There’s also the concept of notification in the moment as a drill is happening, announcing it as a drill so that no one is just wondering, ‘Is this real? Are we having a shooting right now or is this a drill?’ So that is a theme that has been discussed in detail at our commission. 

Hernandez: Is there any empirical evidence right now that tells us the impact of these drills and what it’s doing to the mental health of our kids?

Boylan: There’s not a lot of data. There are some studies that do indicate increases in trauma and suicide discussions or ideation in the wake of lockdown drills, but there’s really minimal amounts of data. We need to use best practices and work with law enforcement and look to the school specialists, social workers, school psychologists, and school professionals to give us some guidance on how to best do these drills so that everyone’s prepared, yet not overly traumatized.

Another topic that comes up a lot is whether kids should be allowed to opt out of the drills. I don’t like that term because I don’t think children should get a pass and not have to learn what to do in a case of emergency, but I think we should be looking at alternative learning for certain types of students who have trouble with the alarm going off and the actual drilling.

Hernandez: What are the next steps right now for the commission? When do you think this panel is going to be ready to present these conclusions and recommendations? 

Boylan: Our commission will develop a report. What I’ll be looking for is what areas does our group, our commission, agree upon? Do we have any themes or particular areas that we all are in general agreement on? And then, what are those (areas)? Also, are there areas that we don’t have agreement on, and what are those items? I can be thinking about a final report and then ultimately figure out whether I want to put in legislation to make any changes to our current law.  

Hernandez: I’ve been speaking with Rhode Island State Representative Jennifer Boylan. She’s the chair of a legislative commission that’s looking into the mental and psychological impact of school shooter drills on students. Representative Boylan, I appreciate the insight. Thank you so much.

Boylan: Thank you. 

Morning Edition host Luis Hernandez can be reached at lhernandez@thepublicsradio.org.