I came across this story this morning on Twitter. During a meeting at a school in Oregon, two masked gunmen entered the room and started firing blanks at the teachers. The teachers had no warning. No students were in the building during the time. The drill was supposed to see how the teachers would react if a real gunman showed up. According to the principal after this drill, the teachers "failed." Only two teachers would have survived if it had been a real shooting.
I see four problems with this situation (not even mentioning the other two situations mentioned in the article during which students were present).
1. It breaks the trust that teachers have with the administration. As a teacher, after having gone through something like this that my administration has orchestrated as a "drill," how am I supposed to trust my administration ever again? The next time "Code Red" or whatever the code is came over the speaker, even if I was teaching and we followed protocol and got the kids to where they were supposed to be, there would be some part of my brain that would absolutely not take it seriously because I might think that it's just the administration again. I feel like that's detrimental: I wouldn't be trying as hard to keep my kids safe if a gunman came to my room because, while I would be scared, some part of me would think it was "just a drill."
2. It wastes money. Schools have zero money right now. I don't know how much it costs to get two guys (or gals) to dress up as gunman and get guns and shoot blanks for a while, but that is an unnecessary cost. When I was in school we had drills in which the code word was said over the loudspeaker. We would do what we were supposed to do and then after a few minutes, we got the all-clear. That cost no money.
3. It could potentially harm someone. I understand that some experts say that you don't really know how you'll respond to a high stress situation until you're in it. But this seems a tiny bit overdone. If I was a teacher at that school, I would quit. I don't do stress well and I would have easily gone into shock if I had been there. I would have nightmares for weeks. Does the school cover the cost of therapy for their teachers after it puts them through something like that? Does the school cover the cost of an injury that a teacher could sustain if they're trying to get away during the drill (e.g. broken wrist, broken ankle, etc.)? If a school really has the best interest of the teachers at heart, it probably shouldn't put its teachers in potentially harmful situations.
4. If we live in fear, terrorists win. To me this drill seems insanely fear-driven. If I was a teacher at that school (and didn't quit after this) I would be scared all the time. The repeated mantra after the September 11th and the Boston bombings was, "We will not live in fear, or the terrorists will win." But having masked men "shooting" up a staff meeting generates fear! Any time I was in my classroom after that and I heard a quick footstep in the hall, I would tell my kids to get down. Any time someone moved too quickly in my peripheral vision, I would jump. Any time anything weird happened, I would freak out. And the terrorists would win, because we would be living in fear.
We can do better than this. If a principal wants to see how their staff reacts during a crisis, do drills. Change the drills up. Do them during class changes. Do them during lunch. Do them during different classes. But bringing gunmen, even fake gunmen, into a school is not acceptable.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
No comments:
Post a Comment