Some argue that lockdown drills are a waste of time or even counterproductive, given that school shooters are often former students entirely familiar with the procedures. It’s about helping schools to prepare better. The proposal isn’t about leaving schools unprepared for the ugly reality of this uniquely American problem, the lawmaker said. Gounardes stressed that the bill would not do away with lockdown drills or keep schools from conducting them more than once a year if they choose. “It is time, with the new information about the potential harm multiple lockdown drills can cause, to revisit this requirement.” “There is no proof that multiple drills per year create a safer, more protective environment for students or teachers,” the letter says. Get the story behind Chris Churchill’s latest columns. The proposed change to state law is supported by the state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which in a letter to lawmakers noted that the 2016 mandate passed before the damage to children caused by lockdown drills was clear. “Can you imagine?”Īmerica in the year 2023, ladies and gentlemen. Ain’t she grand? And we wonder why there’s a childhood anxiety epidemic. “The children were afraid that if they sneezed during a lockdown, they’d give themselves away and be slaughtered,” Gounardes said. Others don’t, he added, mentioning a young boy who came home determined to teach himself not to sneeze. With schools and teachers currently left to improvise, some manage the drills in an age-appropriate way that doesn’t frighten children unnecessarily, Gounardes said. The legislation would standardize the drills based on the least-harmful practices recommended by experts and help schools adopt the best methods.
Gounardes' bill, which as of midday Wednesday was set to pass in the state Senate but faced uncertainty in the Assembly, would change that. Meanwhile, there are no mandated standards for how the exercises are conducted, which explains why my daughter and her friends could have such different experiences. Under a 2016 law considered groundbreaking at the time, New York requires that schools hold four lockdown drills a year - a frequency topped by none of the 40 other states now requiring lockdown drills. The legislation, Gounardes told me, came after he repeatedly heard from parents upset by the frequency of the drills, how they’re conducted and the apparent trauma inflicted on kids. Gounardes is sponsoring a bill that would limit the number of lockdown drills schools are required to conduct, require advance parental notification and allow families to opt out. “It’s deeply traumatizing, and it’s no way for children to live.
Andrew Gounardes, a Democrat from the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. “We’re basically telling our kids that it’s OK that you might be slaughtered in schools,” said state Sen. But telling children to hide in a closet - at some schools, kids in rooms without closets “hide” out in the open - is hardly an effective way to combat the arrival of a madman armed with an AR-15.Ĭan we agree that lockdown drills are the byproduct of failure and a society unwilling or unable to protect its children? That they’re a consequence of a country that has all but given up, handing a terrible burden to schools, teachers and children? That they’re a symbol of a national disgrace, a Band-Aid instead of solution, and our children are paying the price?
Silly is a strange word to use given the horrific seriousness of the subject, and my point isn’t to minimize the unimaginable tragedy of school shootings. And two, that damage is made all the worse by the silliness of the exercises. One, the drills are likely doing significant psychological damage.
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