Lockdowns implant themselves in the everyday

Locked doors, dimmed lights, and hushed breathing. This details the experience many students face during lockdown drills. Though, US schools didn't always have such drills. The ALICE training institute says lockdown drills first started in the 1970s, but weren’t initially for the reason they are practiced today. They were mainly developed as a response to street crime and outside threats. Now, the threat usually comes from inside the school and may be a student.

In the wake of the mass shooting at Columbine High School in 1999 the procedures slowly started to change. The topic of lockdowns has caused a lot of debate among the student population.

 “I just feel like we’re sitting ducks instead of leaving through the windows or blocking off pathways that we know the shooters at. Shootings keep happening, so it’s obvious that nothing has changed, including the way lockdowns are supposed to prepare us,” Anecia Galvin, 10 said.

So, while the different courses of action to take during lockdown drills are debatable, one thing has proven to be true: school shootings have altered high school life irrevocably. Some are worried how drills affect students’ mental health, especially if said drills are taught through simulation. A report conducted in 2020 by Everytown Research shows that active shooting drills can correlate to a 42% increase in anxiety and stress with a 39% increase in depression among students. This isn’t to say that lockdowns are a complete failure, though. According to the ALICE training institute, it installs a sense of muscle memory whenever you're put into a similar situation, as well as training staff members how to react in the event of an active shooter. Further, it’s necessary for everyone to get an idea of what a situation might look or feel like.

Lockdown drills were invented with the purpose of educating students on how to stay safe. They were made with good intentions, but it seems that they have failed to do their job on multiple occasions. This is vital to note, as the success of a lockdown can affect the well being of every single person in the building. According to the Windup March Survey, most St. Joe students believe that lockdowns are an area with no room for error, and we must do everything we can to ensure lockdown drills keep everyone safe.