BILL NUMBER: S6537               Revised 6/8/2023

SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to lock-down drills

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To reduce the number of mandated lock-down drills in public and private
schools across the state and ensure a trauma-informed approach to such
drills

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one of the bill amends subdivision 1 of section 807 of the
Education Law to reduce the number of required lock-down drills from
four per year to one.

Section two adds a new subdivision 2-a to section 807 of the Education
Law to ensure a trauma-informed approach to the design and execution of
such drills, including advance notice to parents and guardians, the
              

ability for parents to opt their children out of such drills, accommo-
dations for students with post-traumatic stress disorder or disabili-
ties, an age-appropriate explanation of the drill for students, and
consistent and thorough training for teachers implementing the drills.

Section three sets the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In 2016, following several horrific nationwide school shootings, New
York passed a revamping of district-wide school safety plans and build-
ing-level emergency response plans, including a requirement for four
lockdown drills per year, as part of the annual budget (Ch. 54 of 2016,
§ 2 Part B). There are few other states in the country, however, that
mandate lockdown drills, during which students rehearse for the possi-
bility of an active shooter entering their school buildings, at such a
high frequency.

While an important component of a school safety plan regime, these lock-
down drills are not without their complications - the drills typically
run the gamut from simple crouch-and-cover routines to actual simu-
lations with teachers shooting plastic pellets and rattling door
handles, traumatizing many a young child and teen.  Parents report
stories of their children texting them goodbye messages or writing out
their wills, imagining the drills are real, or having nightmares for
weeks afterward. One study on the aftereffects of the drills shows that
they led to a 39% spike in depression, a 42% increase in stress and
anxiety, and a 23% increase in over all physiological health problems.
In addition to this induced trauma, experts at Everytown for Gun Safety,
the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Associ-
ation also cite the feasibility of children retaining the information
they are supposed to learn from the drills and increased risk of harm
associated with fighting back against an active shooter. Darkly, in an
era where many assailants are current or former students of the schools
they target, the drills also run the extremely counterproductive risk of
sharing critical information that can then later be used in a shooting.

Compounding matters is the inconsistent and scattershot training that
teachers and school officials receive on how they are to manage their
classrooms during the drills. As reported by Chalkbeat New York, many
teachers never receive any formal training on how to conduct the drills
and instead learn by trial-and-error. They are not taught how to handle
potential technical issues, such as classroom s with physical limita-
tions like windowed walls, or prepared for students' emotional
responses. The drills vary widely across classrooms and schools, with
some teachers receiving no prior notice that a drill is going to occur
or instructions on how to explain the drill to students (Marcela
Rodrigues-Sherley. "NYC teachers get little to no training on lockdown
drills." Chalkbeat New York, 13 Jul 2022.).

The Governor herself has acknowledged the potential drawbacks to these
drills when she partnered with the State Education Department and New
York State Police to issue a recent letter to school leaders that read
"In the aftermath of a traumatizing event like the Nashville shooting
and subsequent false threats of violence, school officials may wish to
postpone any scheduled drills to reduce the risk of additional trauma to
students and staff while maintaining awareness of processes and proce-
dures to keep students and staff safe.  Schools that conduct drills
should do so with the utmost care and caution and always by informing
all participants that it is a drill.  After the conclusion, it is best
practice to leave time to debrief with students and staff." (Governor
Kathy Hochul. Letter to School Leaders. 31 March 2023.).

This bill makes a number of improvements to the lockdown drill mandate
by: reducing the number of required drills from four to one; providing
advance notice to parents and guardians of such drills and allowing them
to opt their children out as needed; accounting for students who have
post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, physical disabilities, or other
medical conditions who may have a particularly negative experience with
such drills; mandating an age-appropriate explanation of the drills to
students; and providing thorough and standardized training for teachers
and school personnel on how to conduct the drills, including how to
respond to students' physical, emotional, social, and developmental
needs during such drills.

Taken together, these reforms represent a commonsense approach to school
safety in an era of seemingly endless mass shootings. They preserve the
original intent of lockdown drills as a preparation tool while account-
ing more fully for the traumatizing effect they can have on those
involved and ensuring that school districts and instructors are better
equipped to handle students' needs.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding the day
on which it shall have become a law.