Lockdown drills are a reminder of empty promises in the U.S.
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“Locks, Lights, Out of Sight
Run-Hide-Fight
A.L.I.C.E. (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate)
Who are these really protecting?”
I have participated in many lockdown drills over my 11 years of school and I have never felt safe in school or during the drill.
Instead, I felt trapped.
The instructions never change. Sit in the corner that best shields you, next to the door on that same wall. Wait until your principal announces the all-clear. But when you walk to your next class, you feel anything but “clear.”
According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, 57 percent of school shooters in the school years between 2009 to 2019 either worked or attended the targeted school. That means that lockdown drills could help shooters who attended such schools. Showing how drills are done publicly helps shooters who come in from the outside. Every student knows the plan and which corners we’re told to hide in. The Insider reported that active-shooter training sets up children “like ducks.”
Recently I participated in a lockdown training at the Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central. Afterward, our principal told us to discuss how we felt about it. What was I supposed to say?
As a student and a child, I feel unsafe. I feel terrified. I feel exposed.
I feel numb to these drills and that numbness continues to grow across the nation. None of us believe it will happen to us. Even in the past few weeks, media outlets have reported several shootings. We then go through a cycle after the report where we forget it ever happened.
These drills are ineffective. Some of my teachers agree, going as far as adopting their own strategies against the original drill plans. Some teachers have rooms connected to stairs, windows or other classrooms. I have been told to exit out of windows, fight back physically and run out if I can. If I were given a chance to run or stay, I would run.
I want to feel safe. In a lockdown drill, I want to feel as if coming home is likely. Sitting in a corner does not secure my safety. I can’t control my fate from a corner.
Either I die there or I leave with my hands on my head and my life forever changed. We feel fear, uncertainty and hopelessness, and I know coming into school every day that my safety is put in the hands of an outdated system created by people who have never felt what we do. When another school is targeted in violence, there will be another news story, more empty promises and another student like me pleading for change.
School districts across the nation need to revise lockdown and drills to be personalized for each room. At ITC, some rooms are easier to hide and evacuate from than others. We should be utilizing this and practicing how to safely exit a classroom through a window. Also, stop announcing that it’s a drill and expect us to take it seriously. No one will follow through unless they believe they are in danger. I’ve seen it in my classrooms, students whispering and texting. We need to believe that we are participating in drills that are protecting us. Announcing these drills defeats that purpose.
Additionally, our schools need to implement self-defense classes to prepare students for face-to-face contact with the shooter. We shouldn’t be hiding and hoping that the shooter doesn’t enter our classroom. We must be ready for anything.
While all these suggestions could be discussed and implemented in our schools, I know that at the end of the day I’m just another student in the corner. They would rather sit back and watch us discuss how we feel about their lockdown drills with no efforts to implement the change students recommend. Now that I hold nothing back, maybe our school districts will stand up for me and the rest of the students in the United States.
Angelina Grevi is a junior attending The Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central (ITC) in Syracuse, NY. She is also part of the Syracuse Journalism Lab, which aims to inspire talented high school students from Syracuse’s underrepresented communities to pursue journalism careers.
