School Shooting ... Drills?
Police in Chicago are recommending that schools start putting their students through school shooting drills.
Just as they hold fire drills to help prepare students on how to
survive a blaze, schools should schedule regular training exercises on
what to do when a gunman walks into a classroom, one law enforcement
official said Monday.
"We have outgrown the area where fire is the biggest threat to our
students," said Detective Robert Carroll of the Cook County Sheriff's
Department. "You are far less likely as a student to die as a victim of
fire than you are of violence."
I have serious questions and reservations about drilling kids for school shootings. From a law enforcement standpoint, I can understand their position that the more prepared students are for such an incident, the more likely some are to survive it. But, there is a reason the police run prisons and not schools. There is still something innocent and safe about schools. Schools are still a place some kids are happy to go. A place they feel protected. I am not sure implicitly telling them their lives are in danger is a particularly good idea. Maybe at some schools with older students in high risk areas, but this is not something I think we need to institute nationally in every school.
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