Nonetheless, I still feel this was important. Did we really need a lockdown drill for an elementary school less than one week after a mass shooting? Could it not have been postponed one week?COULD THE SUPERINTENDENT NOT HAVE SENT SOME SORT OF COMMUNICATION TO THE PARENTS THAT THE LOCKDOWN DRILLS WERE CONTINUING AS PLANNED BUT PRECAUTIONS WERE BEING TAKEN TO HELP TRAUMATIZED STUDENTS? Maybe, I don't know, he could have made sure there actually WERE extra precautions for the children of UNC Charlotte faculty, staff, and students who attended the multiple schools in which the lockdowns occurred. Or maybe extra precautions for the actual UNC Charlotte faculty, staff, and students who work in our school district. Could the Superintendent have actually responded to parents' messages to him about this event? Or did it take several attempts by one parent (not me) in which the last message shamed him for this man to actually respond?
My impressions of our school superintendent remain: He is more concerned with checking a box than the emotional and physical well-being of our children.
My submitted Op-Ed
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Suggested Headline:
Lockdown Drills are necessary, but timing is a problem
On Monday, May 6, less than one week after the UNC Charlotte
mass shooting, at least one school in the Charlotte Mecklenburg School system encouraged
students to wear green to show their support of the university and their recent
traumatic event. Children of UNC Charlotte faculty, staff, and students proudly
donned their favorite Niner Green clothing to let others know their connection
to and support of the university.
Two hours into the school day at THE SCHOOL MY CHILDREN ATTEND, a lockdown drill started. In at least one classroom, there no place to
hide so students put their book bags in front of their small bodies. My young daughter’s
body shook so hard she had to stabilize herself on the floor. She was convinced
that their school was being targeted by a shooter because of their UNC
Charlotte clothing. Her twin brother said it was the scariest drill he had ever
been in and kept whispering “Is this real?” Less than a week before, he had
been inconsolable and afraid that I, his mother, would be shot when she went
back to her campus.
As an Organizational Psychologist, I fully appreciate the
importance of training. I know that the UNC Charlotte police force’s repeated
training for a terrorist event made their responses automatic, focused, and,
ultimately, successful. Employees in professions that save and protect lives
such as police, fire, medicine, and pilots need frequent and repeated training
so that when an event happens their training and their adrenaline automate their
responses to the right action for the right time.
But did we really need a lockdown drill at a K-8 elementary
and middle school this Monday?
I understand that lockdown drills at schools are a necessary
evil that our children have to endure. I understand that it gives the
administrators, teachers, and children practice on what to do if the
unthinkable occurs. I imagine it helps the administrators find faults in their response
systems and think of ways to correct them. I do not think it does much to help
the children.
Each school needs at least two lockdown drills a year to be
in compliance. Was this drill already scheduled weeks or months in advance? A
prudent leader would check to see if he or she could rearrange the schedule,
perhaps exchanging the location of Monday’s drill site for one in another
school system or delaying the ones scheduled this week for a few weeks.
What about top of mind safety? We, in Charlotte, are all currently
sensitive to the safety of our location. So, maybe it would be a good idea to
have a lockdown drill to reassure everyone that the authorities have it under
control. By that logic, it would have been a great idea to have had a lockdown drill the day the Parkland High
School students returned to school (see below). Or maybe that would have been insensitive.
What about a lockdown drill at another high school in the same district as
Parkland. A leader sensitive to the emotional health of his or her students would
realize what a bad idea this is.
But what happens if the drill is delayed and there is a shooting
at the school the skipped their drill? If, by delaying a drill a few weeks, a
leader suspects a shooting is imminent, I think a call to the Charlotte
Mecklenburg Police chief is a more strategic leadership solution than making
sure the school has another lockdown.
I am flummoxed at the Superintendent of Charlotte
Mecklenburg Schools. What sort of leader would not think critically about the necessity
of a lockdown drill less than one week after an actual mass shooting in our city?
Is he not aware of the close ties between UNC Charlotte and the children who
attend CMS schools? What sort of leader
would not come up with a way to have the drill at a less emotionally fraught
time or communicate about it with his constituents? I am concerned that his obvious lack of involvement and critical thinking
about this lockdown drill carries over to other important decisions for our
public school system.
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