School lockdown drills: New state rules win praise, but some controversy remains
Lockdown drills pose a particular threat to students with preexisting high anxiety, said Dr. Victor Fornari, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with Northwell Health. "Preparing them by explaining the drill is a good approach," Fornari said. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
Some Long Island parents, students and educators are praising new state regulations that prohibit realistic "active shooter" drills during school hours and mandate that schools notify parents and students before less-intensive "lockdown drills."
The measures address growing concerns that the drills, while important to school security, can frighten students and cause emotional trauma, state education officials said. The rules say drills should be "age-appropriate" and "trauma-informed."
The state Board of Regents approved the new regulations July 15, saying that schools cannot hold active shooter drills during school hours, and that they can't use props such as fake blood or bandages or have actors portray assailants to mimic a real school shooting.
The state requires schools to hold four lockdown drills a school year, and eight fire or other "evacuation" drills. Students and parents do not have to be alerted before evacuation drills, according to the rules.
Under the new measures, parents must be notified at least a week in advance of a lockdown drill, and students must be aware they are just drills. In a typical lockdown drill, students are huddled in the back of a class and told to be silent while the school doors are locked.
"Some kids were traumatized by realistic lockdown drills, and parents should know about them," said Roger Tilles, the Island's representative to the state's Board of Regents. "You want to minimize the collateral damage and give students this experience for the children's safety."
Tilles added that he knows of no Island district that holds active shooter drills with props and include students.
"Just in case anybody is thinking of using fake blood, it's a bad idea," he said.
Tilles said he remembers air raid drills when he was a kid at Saddle Rock Elementary School in Great Neck in the 1950s, in which students huddled under their desks.
"I had nightmares, with flashes of light, as I waited for the sonic boom to hit me," he said.
The changes, which take effect when schools convene this fall, underscore the tension between two of the major issues facing schools: the need to keep students safe in an age of school shootings, and the desire to address concerns about their mental health, which have become more of a focal point since the pandemic.
Since the pandemic, schools have implemented a range of measures to address student mental health, including hiring more counselors and social workers, and collaborating more with community-based counseling agencies.
Concerns about lockdown drills reached the state level earlier this year with legislation that called for reducing the required number of drills and permitting parents to opt their children out of them. The bill was not approved by the end of the legislative session.
West Babylon mother Jennifer Roman, who has two daughters in the school system, said she supports alerting parents and students ahead of the drills. And in no way does she want kids involved in any active shooter drills with props, she said.
"Imagine if the students are not aware it's a drill. They're going to be so traumatized that they won't want to go to school," said Roman, who has a daughter going into fourth grade and another going into ninth. Alerting the parents allows them "to have a conversation with their children."
West Babylon Superintendent Yiendhy Farrelly said the district notifies students before starting a lockdown drill.
These drills have been a part of school life since the Columbine High School shootings in 1999, during which two students killed 12 students and one teacher in Colorado. The drills occur in 95% of public schools, and New York is among at least 40 states that mandate them, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a national nonprofit that works to end gun violence.
Since 1999, some 205 students, educators and others have been killed and 464 people injured in a total of 413 school shootings, according to an analysis by The Washington Post.
On Long Island, schools will be most affected by the rule to notify parents a week before a lockdown drill, as most schools don't provide such notification, said Robert Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.
The great majority of Island schools already let kids know it's a drill just before an exercise, he said.
The new rules are not without controversy.
Officials at Everytown for Gun Safety say that while it's important to train staff, they advocate that drills not include students at all.
"Evidence is mounting on the emotional harm of these drills," said Sarah Burd-Sharps, the group's senior director of research. "Children shouldn't be involved. Children already struggle with anxiety."
At the same time, Richard Keeler, principal of the Central Valley Academy, a high school in the Central New York village of Ilion, said he disagrees with alerting parents and students ahead of time, that it reduces the drills' effectiveness. He said he believes the rules overstate the drills' potential for emotional trauma.
Janet Goldstein, who taught for 33 years in the Franklin Square district, recalled a lockdown drill that occurred after the Sandy Hook shootings in 2012, in which the attacker shot and killed 26 people in a Connecticut elementary school.
She said she told her fourth-graders at Washington Street School it was just a drill. She led the children to a corner of the class, away from doors and windows, and told them to sit quietly. She locked the classroom door, she said.
"They sat quietly, out of fear," said Goldstein, of East Meadow, who added that the students were unfamiliar with such drills. When someone jiggled the door handle from outside the room, the children "were terrified. It took me a long time to restore normal functions."
Franklin Square's policy is to give advanced notification to students and staff prior to lockdown drills, officials said.
The drills pose a particular threat to students with preexisting high anxiety, said Dr. Victor Fornari, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with Northwell Health.
"Preparing them by explaining the drill is a good approach," Fornari said.
Using props such as fake blood and someone acting as a shooter could trigger anxiety, he added. Fornari noted that for the vast majority of students, these lockdown drills, done the right way, will not upset them.
Andres Rodriguez, a rising senior at Brentwood High School, said he supports letting students and parents know ahead of time that these drills are not actual emergencies.
"Parents should be notified. They might have children with disabilities or mental problems," said Rodriguez, 17, of Brentwood, founder of Student Advocates of Long Island.
At Brentwood High School, teachers and officials let students know that lockdown drills are just practice, he said. During the drill, the hallways are cleared, and school doors, inside and out, are locked. Lights are turned off, the blinds are closed, and students are moved to an area in the classroom where they cannot be seen from the window on the classroom door, he said.
"The attitude of most students is calm. They cooperate," Rodriguez said.
Before the new regulations, the Three Village school district had notified parents early in the school year that there would be lockdown drills, said Superintendent Kevin Scanlon. The district does not hold active shooter drills with students, he said.
The Suffolk County Police Department said it conducts active shooter drills at local schools throughout the county, but without students and not during school hours. During some of the drills, a member of the police department will simulate the role of shooter.
Nassau County police said they conduct active shooter training in different venues around the county, including schools. The buildings are not operating or not occupied, they said, and cleared ahead of time. If actors are needed, a trainer from the police department is used to simulate a threat. Typically, Police Explorers — police-trained youth between ages 14 and 20 — play victims. No actual weapons are brought in by participants, trainers or actors, police said.
Lockdown drills are most often associated with an active shooter, but lockdowns can be implemented if police activity is occurring near the building, or if someone tries to enter the school who shouldn't, educators said.
In January, Newbridge Road Elementary School in North Bellmore went on lockdown after an anonymous caller said there was man with a gun inside the building. No armed person was found, and the lockdown was lifted in the afternoon. Students and faculty were put on "lockout," meaning that no one could enter or exit the building but regular operations took place, officials said.
The new rules echo several aspects of the bill submitted to the State Legislature earlier this year. The bill explained the need to notify parents and students of the lockdown drills, saying, "Parents report stories of their children texting them goodbye messages or writing out their wills, imagining the drills are real, or having nightmares for weeks afterward."
The bill would have reduced the number of mandated lockdown drills from four to two, and would allow parents to exclude their child from them. After passing the State Senate, however, the bill stalled in the Assembly.
New York is among only a handful of states that require four or more lockdown drills a school year, while most other states have fewer, said Burd-Sharps of the gun safety group.
Roman, the West Babylon mother, said two drills sounds right, as she chalks up the state mandate for four as "New York State wanting to blanket everything."
Tilles, the Island's Regents representative, said he leaves such questions to the experts.
"I wouldn't know whether to have two or four or six," he said. "I leave that to people with expertise. They said four. I say that's good."
Some Long Island parents, students and educators are praising new state regulations that prohibit realistic "active shooter" drills during school hours and mandate that schools notify parents and students before less-intensive "lockdown drills."
The measures address growing concerns that the drills, while important to school security, can frighten students and cause emotional trauma, state education officials said. The rules say drills should be "age-appropriate" and "trauma-informed."
The state Board of Regents approved the new regulations July 15, saying that schools cannot hold active shooter drills during school hours, and that they can't use props such as fake blood or bandages or have actors portray assailants to mimic a real school shooting.
The state requires schools to hold four lockdown drills a school year, and eight fire or other "evacuation" drills. Students and parents do not have to be alerted before evacuation drills, according to the rules.
WHAT TO KNOW
- State education officials have adopted regulations that prohibit realistic "active shooter" drills during school hours.
- The new regulations also mandate that schools notify parents and students before less-intensive "lockdown drills."
- The measures are intended to make such drills less scary for students, but not all agree that's the correct approach.
Under the new measures, parents must be notified at least a week in advance of a lockdown drill, and students must be aware they are just drills. In a typical lockdown drill, students are huddled in the back of a class and told to be silent while the school doors are locked.
"Some kids were traumatized by realistic lockdown drills, and parents should know about them," said Roger Tilles, the Island's representative to the state's Board of Regents. "You want to minimize the collateral damage and give students this experience for the children's safety."
Tilles added that he knows of no Island district that holds active shooter drills with props and include students.
"Just in case anybody is thinking of using fake blood, it's a bad idea," he said.
Tilles said he remembers air raid drills when he was a kid at Saddle Rock Elementary School in Great Neck in the 1950s, in which students huddled under their desks.
"I had nightmares, with flashes of light, as I waited for the sonic boom to hit me," he said.
The changes, which take effect when schools convene this fall, underscore the tension between two of the major issues facing schools: the need to keep students safe in an age of school shootings, and the desire to address concerns about their mental health, which have become more of a focal point since the pandemic.
Since the pandemic, schools have implemented a range of measures to address student mental health, including hiring more counselors and social workers, and collaborating more with community-based counseling agencies.
Concerns about lockdown drills reached the state level earlier this year with legislation that called for reducing the required number of drills and permitting parents to opt their children out of them. The bill was not approved by the end of the legislative session.
West Babylon mother Jennifer Roman, who has two daughters in the school system, said she supports alerting parents and students ahead of the drills. And in no way does she want kids involved in any active shooter drills with props, she said.
"Imagine if the students are not aware it's a drill. They're going to be so traumatized that they won't want to go to school," said Roman, who has a daughter going into fourth grade and another going into ninth. Alerting the parents allows them "to have a conversation with their children."
West Babylon Superintendent Yiendhy Farrelly said the district notifies students before starting a lockdown drill.
These drills have been a part of school life since the Columbine High School shootings in 1999, during which two students killed 12 students and one teacher in Colorado. The drills occur in 95% of public schools, and New York is among at least 40 states that mandate them, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a national nonprofit that works to end gun violence.
Since 1999, some 205 students, educators and others have been killed and 464 people injured in a total of 413 school shootings, according to an analysis by The Washington Post.
Not without controversy
On Long Island, schools will be most affected by the rule to notify parents a week before a lockdown drill, as most schools don't provide such notification, said Robert Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.
The great majority of Island schools already let kids know it's a drill just before an exercise, he said.
The new rules are not without controversy.
Officials at Everytown for Gun Safety say that while it's important to train staff, they advocate that drills not include students at all.
"Evidence is mounting on the emotional harm of these drills," said Sarah Burd-Sharps, the group's senior director of research. "Children shouldn't be involved. Children already struggle with anxiety."
At the same time, Richard Keeler, principal of the Central Valley Academy, a high school in the Central New York village of Ilion, said he disagrees with alerting parents and students ahead of time, that it reduces the drills' effectiveness. He said he believes the rules overstate the drills' potential for emotional trauma.
Janet Goldstein, who taught for 33 years in the Franklin Square district, recalled a lockdown drill that occurred after the Sandy Hook shootings in 2012, in which the attacker shot and killed 26 people in a Connecticut elementary school.
She said she told her fourth-graders at Washington Street School it was just a drill. She led the children to a corner of the class, away from doors and windows, and told them to sit quietly. She locked the classroom door, she said.
"They sat quietly, out of fear," said Goldstein, of East Meadow, who added that the students were unfamiliar with such drills. When someone jiggled the door handle from outside the room, the children "were terrified. It took me a long time to restore normal functions."
Franklin Square's policy is to give advanced notification to students and staff prior to lockdown drills, officials said.
The drills pose a particular threat to students with preexisting high anxiety, said Dr. Victor Fornari, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with Northwell Health.
"Preparing them by explaining the drill is a good approach," Fornari said.
Using props such as fake blood and someone acting as a shooter could trigger anxiety, he added. Fornari noted that for the vast majority of students, these lockdown drills, done the right way, will not upset them.
Andres Rodriguez, a rising senior at Brentwood High School, said parents should be notified of the drills. "They might have children with disabilities or mental problems," he said. Credit: Rick Kopstein
An accepted part of life
Andres Rodriguez, a rising senior at Brentwood High School, said he supports letting students and parents know ahead of time that these drills are not actual emergencies.
"Parents should be notified. They might have children with disabilities or mental problems," said Rodriguez, 17, of Brentwood, founder of Student Advocates of Long Island.
At Brentwood High School, teachers and officials let students know that lockdown drills are just practice, he said. During the drill, the hallways are cleared, and school doors, inside and out, are locked. Lights are turned off, the blinds are closed, and students are moved to an area in the classroom where they cannot be seen from the window on the classroom door, he said.
"The attitude of most students is calm. They cooperate," Rodriguez said.
Before the new regulations, the Three Village school district had notified parents early in the school year that there would be lockdown drills, said Superintendent Kevin Scanlon. The district does not hold active shooter drills with students, he said.
The Suffolk County Police Department said it conducts active shooter drills at local schools throughout the county, but without students and not during school hours. During some of the drills, a member of the police department will simulate the role of shooter.
Nassau County police said they conduct active shooter training in different venues around the county, including schools. The buildings are not operating or not occupied, they said, and cleared ahead of time. If actors are needed, a trainer from the police department is used to simulate a threat. Typically, Police Explorers — police-trained youth between ages 14 and 20 — play victims. No actual weapons are brought in by participants, trainers or actors, police said.
Lockdown drills are most often associated with an active shooter, but lockdowns can be implemented if police activity is occurring near the building, or if someone tries to enter the school who shouldn't, educators said.
In January, Newbridge Road Elementary School in North Bellmore went on lockdown after an anonymous caller said there was man with a gun inside the building. No armed person was found, and the lockdown was lifted in the afternoon. Students and faculty were put on "lockout," meaning that no one could enter or exit the building but regular operations took place, officials said.
The new rules echo several aspects of the bill submitted to the State Legislature earlier this year. The bill explained the need to notify parents and students of the lockdown drills, saying, "Parents report stories of their children texting them goodbye messages or writing out their wills, imagining the drills are real, or having nightmares for weeks afterward."
The bill would have reduced the number of mandated lockdown drills from four to two, and would allow parents to exclude their child from them. After passing the State Senate, however, the bill stalled in the Assembly.
New York is among only a handful of states that require four or more lockdown drills a school year, while most other states have fewer, said Burd-Sharps of the gun safety group.
Roman, the West Babylon mother, said two drills sounds right, as she chalks up the state mandate for four as "New York State wanting to blanket everything."
Tilles, the Island's Regents representative, said he leaves such questions to the experts.
"I wouldn't know whether to have two or four or six," he said. "I leave that to people with expertise. They said four. I say that's good."
Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
