Active Shooter Drills - Pre-K and K

[armana]

@rme09 Same. I think it's scarier because we knew with fire, tornadoes and quakes that it wasn't personal. The tornado isn't hunting you, it just is. The idea of school shooters are far more terrifying. I am genuinely considering blme schooling my 3 year old when he hits 6, but I don't want to deprive him of even more social interaction than he already lost thanks to being a Covid baby.

 

[emily91]

@papilindo Yeah, same here. Our kids do tornado, fire, and active shooter drills. The school calls them stranger drills, I guess, and explained that they do them so that if a stranger comes in to the school the kids will know what to do.

I hate that they have to do it, but our school is good and seems to be doing their best given the crappy circumstances.

 

[smfrie]

@anna_jackson My kids that are headed into 1st and 3rd grade have had lockdown drill for the last couple years and they haven’t been traumatic or anything but I think every school is different.

Their school does call them ‘lockdown drills’ rather than ‘active shooter drills’ which seems to make it more palatable. From what the kids say they turn off the lights and hide quietly for a few minutes… teacher has her job of locking doors and such but the kids just hide. The school says the drills are for a variety of scenarios so the main reason is kinda disguised.

We are fairly open with our kids so they hear about the news and know that one of the scenarios they are practicing for is a shooter but that mainly comes from us at home. I really would have a hard time dealing with some of the stories I’ve heard from other school systems though (some of which have included resource officers firing blanks in the hallways!!!!)…. I share your concern that it could be a monthly trauma and, IMHO, ‘run, hide, fight’ is just using three words to describe ‘panic’ so I don’t value it enough to want my kids traumatized.

 

[rodz_004]

@anna_jackson I'm 30 years old. Did nobody else do these as a kid as well? We definitely did at my school. It's not a new thing.

 

[scaredtodeath]

@rodz_004 28 and yes we did it as well

 

[anna_jackson]

@rodz_004 I’m 37 and we did not. The age difference makes sense though. Columbine was in 1999 and it was a few years afterwards that these drills began. That was right about the time I was graduating high school, and right about the time you would have been starting middle school.

 

[jubida]

@anna_jackson 34yo, they started when I was in high school but I was in private education.

 

[tramnineteen]

@anna_jackson As a Canadian this is such a foreign concept to me.

I was an anxious kid - this would have fucked me up big time. I can't believe this is the extent of the level of prevention Americans are willing to go to...

 

[1nfinity865]

@tramnineteen I wish this was. I’m in SW Ontario in the middle of nowhere and my kids school does them twice a year.

 

[dannywindsofchange]

@tramnineteen My daughter had them in JK this year (in Toronto). Lots of conversations about the idea that being prepared for bad things is less scary than NOT being prepared for bad things.

 

[globalfaith]

@anna_jackson Not American, but this is next level fucked up. Like, I can't comprehend how fucking insane this is.

 

[jonerone3]

@anna_jackson My school was doing this pre-Columbine

 

[katrina2017]

@anna_jackson My god. I'm so sorry you guys have to deal with something like this. Sorry I don't have any suggestions for you.

 

[j9shall]

@anna_jackson I'd speak with your kids teacher about it. Pretty sure most classes don't call it that or make it directly about a shooter but a general safety thing. At least that's what they do in my kids class (preschool) but it could obviously be different in your area.

 

[kblankenship09]

@j9shall We have different drill types; lockdown, shelter in place, evacuation, and hold

 

[phananh]

@anna_jackson As a non-American dad, this seems absolutely crazy to me.

But even in the context of America... shootings in preschools are still pretty rare, right? Do these preschools also do tsunami drills, truck-loses-control-and-crashes-through-the-fence drills, etc?

 

[mila]

@phananh I remember doing tornado drills growing up. And maybe in parts of the US where there are tsunamis (PNW?) they would do these too.

 

[cuplizanggoro]

@phananh They don’t get money from the government to do tsunami drills, or truck through a fence drills. They do for tornadoes and fires, because those have some statistical likelihood of happening depending on where you live. And the funding is there for active shooting drills despite not being anywhere close to being supported by statistics because of politics.

 

[dcoker]

@phananh

... shootings in preschools are still pretty rare, right?

So rare as to be statistically zero.

 

[akerman2631]

@anna_jackson Is anyone else planning on telling his kid not to listen to the teacher?

I can’t think of a school shooting where hiding in the classroom helped, but I can think of several where running away might have done some good.