Why You Need to Be Concerned About Active Shooter Drills -- and What You Can Do
Schools should be a safe space. We have taken that away, making it a really scary place to be.
Gun violence is killing our kids
The New England Journal of Medicine states: In America, gun violence is now the number-one killer of children.
Just last week there was a school shooting in Nevada killing three.
So as parents, neighbors, and citizens, we have every reason to be concerned. The question is what are we going to do when …
Attempts to keep our kids safe create new major problems for our kids
When this happens, we call these unintended consequences – something happening that we didn’t want to happen, but it did!
Safety that’s not so safe…
We’re going about trying to keep our kids safe in all the wrong ways. We have put a major emphasis on Active Shooter Drills, and this is harming our kids, causing some to want to die as they’re so frightened by what we’re doing to them “for their own good.”
Active shooter drills are designed to terrify children and staff
When my article was first published in Psychology Today, I heard from school personnel around the country how terrifying the active shooter drills were not only to students but also to staff.
One school staff person contacted me that those conducting the drills were told to pound on the doors and yell, to frighten the kids. She shared that these heavily armed, screaming, “actors” also frightened her and other staff, producing guilt and shame in the staff and significant anxiety in the school children.
We must stop blaming the victims – our children and teachers
Active shooter drills are not working. Students in Uvalde were trained in how to handle an active shooter – be quiet, make no noise. This is what they did. It didn’t work!
But then who is to blame?
Police in Uvalde are now using how quiet the students were to blame these innocent children because they did what they were trained to do, too well.
According to Lomi Kriel of the ProPublica-Texas Tribune Investigative Unit, who has been analyzing the evidence with a team of reporters:
Children were acting as they were told to do, trained to do in Active Shooter drills held by their school. This cost them their lives.
And … terrifying children produces harm
Please read my article on how the anxiety produced by active shooter drills is negatively affecting our children beginning with those in elementary school.
5 Ways Trauma From Active Shooter Drills Contributes To Youth Suicide & Drug Use
In my article, I offer suggestions involving planning with mental health personnel. Here are some additional thoughts on making schools physically safer:
· Create a position in the school whose major responsibility is to constantly check doors to make sure they are locked. This may prove less expensive than paying for an armed guard who becomes frightened as was the case in Parkland.
· Have all doors in a school alarmed, alerting staff when they are opened.
· Have a single, monitored, point of entry to a school.
The upside of this downside?
You may have more ideas. If you do share them with your family, school, even let me know.
Creating Community by:
· Sharing
Please also share both my articles with family, friends, and colleagues, and on social media. Let’s begin a conversation on how to keep our children safe.
· Brainstorming
Together, let’s develop alternative approaches to Active Shooter drills that do not harm our youth.
· Connecting
During this holiday season speak with others about what you do agree on, the well-being of the children you love. We can draw closer as we build upon this common ground.
Yes, working together we can make our schools safer, allowing us all to breathe easier as we send our children off to have a good day in what we hope will be a safe, and enriching environment … making this a happier year for us all.
Stay tuned. If you’re interested in my clinical work visit me on Psychology Today
And if you’re curious about my course on resilience, email me at www.PatriciaOGorman.com.
Patricia O’Gorman, Ph.D, psychologist and life coach, is a best-selling author of nine books on trauma, resilience, women, and self-parenting who is also known for her warm and funny presentations.