Lockdown drills: they may be an increasing trend in education systems across the country, but there is a debate on the merits of these drills versus the impact they have on students, teachers, and staff. Which causes more harm, the threat of a shooting occurring, or the stress imposed by participating in lockdown drills? School Safety Today’s Hilary Kennedy asked two experts to weigh in on this debate. and add their insights.

Dr. Jaclyn Schildkraut, an Author, Researcher, and Associate Professor of Criminal Justices at the State University of New York at Oswego, and Dr. Amanda Nickerson, Author, Professor, Psychologist, and Director of the Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention at the University of Buffalo, presented some of their findings from their comprehensive study on lockdown drills.

“Lockdown drills are a set of procedures that you can use anytime there is a danger inside of a building,” Dr. Schildkraut said. “That can include an active shooter, but that can also include things like an angry parent, or a fight getting out of control, or even a dangerous animal that might find its way into the school building.”

Because lockdown drills are often talked about synonymously with active shooter drills, Dr. Schildkraut said this association could create certain negative connotations and concerns.

There are many arguments both for and against lockdown drills. But Dr. Schildkraut and Dr. Nickerson said their research findings don’t support the opposing views against such exercises. One method Dr. Nickerson said showed promise was to take a trauma-informed approach in such drills

“A trauma-informed approach isn’t necessarily specific to lockdown drills, but it’s something that says that we should actually assume that individuals are more likely rather than less likely to have a history of trauma,” Dr. Nickerson explained. “So, in the procedures that we do in schools and in other organizations, we want to take that into account.”

Raptor Technologies provides school safety software solutions that help schools prepare, prevent, respond and recover to help schools build a culture of school safety and wellbeing. For more information, visit raptortech.com.

School safety is an umbrella with many different aspects underneath it. The evolution of this principle continues, as it has to include everything from natural disasters to violence to a pandemic. Providing insights on this shift, School Safety Today host Daniel Litwin spoke with the former superintendent of Santa Fe TX ISD, Dr. Leigh Wall. Dr. Wall recently retired after 43 years in public education, including 13 as a superintendent.

“The school is more than a schoolhouse. The safety for the student, staff, and others is different now, reflecting changes in society,” Dr. Wall said.

The fact that all stakeholders have a huge awareness of safety is in itself a shift. “School safety is ultimately more important for all. Before teaching and learning, we have to focus on safety,” Dr. Wall added.

One way in which Texas schools attempted to modernize the issue was with State Bill 11, which passed in response to a 2018 shooting. Sponsors wrote it as a comprehensive safety bill that supported funding and initiatives relating to school safety.

Speaking about SB 11, Dr. Wall said, “The key is the emergency operation plan requirement for all types, and that those plans must be dynamic. Auditing, as well as threat assessment teams, are part of it, too. It has interconnected layers to support students, teachers, staff, and the community.”

What SB 11 doesn’t precisely address is COVID-19. “Wellness is part of safety, and the pandemic put this into its scope. There are many new concerns, and schools need to have the right tools to deal with it because we have to address basic safety needs before learning,” Dr. Wall noted.

Is there a gap between how parents and students perceive a particular school’s safety and how the school administrators do? A 2021 survey in partnership with Raptor Technologies revealed a wide gap in the viewpoints of school safety initiatives. Students and parents are less confident than administrators in several critical areas, including a 30-point gap when asked if their school takes a proactive approach to safety awareness.

To further discuss these survey results and look at some strategies schools can take moving forward, School Safety Today tapped mother, educator, and Co-Founder of Safe and Sound Schools, Michele Gay.

“Being an educator, school safety was always a thing,” Gay said. “Those seeds were planted and watered over the years.” But when Gay lost her youngest daughter, Josephine, at Sandy Hook, that not only changed her life forever, but her perspective on school safety changed and became a recognition that school safety needs to be a top priority.

In co-founding Safe and Sound Schools with a fellow Sand Hook parent, Gay’s mission is to ensure all schools in the United States and beyond have the resources and assistance available to make schools safer. “There are so many people with so much to contribute. For us, it’s really just about bringing that all together,” Gay said.

Gay said she was not surprised by the survey results showing gaps, but the gaps in student perception were troubling because they are the ones at the school every day. “To see that there is this disenfranchised group that is our primary stakeholder, that waves a big red flag for all of us.”

Some of these gaps could be due to a lack of effective communication between the schools and the parents, a barrier Gay admitted is a challenge. “You can tell people stuff, and hopefully they remember it, but once they become engaged in it, and they’re a part of it, they’re not only remembering it, but sharing it with others,” Gay said. So, engaging the community is a necessary tool for closing the communication gap.

With so many different federal actions providing funding for schools to reopen this Fall, educators, administrators, and facility managers are struggling to understand the best way to take advantage of all of this assistance and how to center their strategies in thoughtful ways.

Here to give insights on this episode of School Safety Today, a Raptor Technologies podcast is Dr. Paula Love, President, RFPMatch.com, The Funding Doctor. She talked with host Daniel Litwin, the Voice of B2B, about how to align funds to protect your school, details on grant application and submission, and how to create sustainability in your investments and maximize the use of funds.

“What I see right now is a funding frenzy because you’re trying to navigate all these funds and different fund names,” Love said. “Sometimes it’s difficult to ascertain which grants are associated with different acts.”

The CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security) provided funds to the Department of Education called Education Stabilization Funds, which is the umbrella that oversees all funds. There are two pathways that K-12 schools can access: they are ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Education Relief) and GEER(Governor’s Education Emergency Relief) funds.

The ARP ESSER fund has set aside $123 billion in available funds to help K-12 schools safely reopen their doors, providing dollars for health screening tools, funds for learning loss, and additional resources to address the mental well-being of students impacted by the isolation of lockdown. GEER set aside $3 billion, which will use a governor’s discretion for how they will use that money in their state.

Listen to hear Dr. Love further break down the Coronavirus funding for schools.

Schools will be back and mostly open for in-person learning in a few weeks. As students return, challenges around safety and emergencies still exist. So, how can schools be prepared?

Offering his expert perspective, Frank Kitzerow, Retired Chief of Police and District Security for Palm Beach County School District, spoke with School Safety Today host Shelby Skrhak. Kitzerow had a 40-year career in law enforcement.

“In looking at the safety aspect, there are lots of questions. One thing I learned was to pay attention to the community, because schools are a microcosm of that,” Kitzerow said.

While leading the Palm Beach County School District, Kitzerow established a school safety ecosystem. “It’s about staying left of the X, with X being a catastrophic event. It’s a focus on prevention, intervention and diversion to stop a potential attack.”

The planning part of school safety is essential, according to Kitzerow. “You want to have a robust toolbox to respond quickly if that day occurs. A plan for this involves communication, unified command and technology.”

Developing a response plan requires lots of stakeholders. It’s parents, students, teachers, administrators, law enforcement, fire and rescue, and more. Kitzerow established such a program involving all these parties focusing on effective communication, situational awareness, and technology tools.

“One of the heaviest lifts in communication is reunification, matching students to family, which is often a lot of people, and there’s no room for error. Emergency management platforms support this,” Kitzerow noted.

Such technology can also play a role in communicating with teachers during an incident.

Kitzerow also urged districts to practice the plans, not just create them. “Make sure everyone is well-versed. What you invest on the front end, you’ll take on the back end.”