School Intruder Drills

Criticism over procedures and lack of realism

Students+at+Fairlawn+high+School+in+Sidney%2C+Ohio+prepare+to+baracade+their+classroom+door+against+an+intruder.++Courtesy+Sidney+Daily+News.

Students at Fairlawn high School in Sidney, Ohio prepare to baracade their classroom door against an intruder. Courtesy Sidney Daily News.

Lauren Whalen, Photograhpy Crew

White County, Indiana students practiced a realistic active-shooter drill in which several teachers were injured. Photo courtesy NBC News.

Some people at Lancaster High School believe that intruder safety drills should be more efficient and should better prepare students and staff members for the emergency. Many students have complained that the drills are “stupid and a waste of time”. Yet none have proposed how to perfect the safety drills.

According to LHS Principal Scott Burre, the problem with practicing safety drills is that intruder situations are unpredictable. It’s nearly impossible to be 100% prepared for what may happen.

“The key with intruder drills is to make them as realistic as possible. We want our students to feel safe and confident that they know what to do to get the best positive outcome in these situations,” said Burre.

“The last thing we want to do is have a drill that creates even more uneasiness with our students in these situations,” he said.

Some staff members also expressed frustration as the intruder safety drills leave them feeling unprepared for a real life-threatening situation.

Dianna Galadyk, an English teacher at LHS, said she thinks the drill process could be improved.

“I do think or agree in some way that we might need a more realist drill,” she said.

English teacher, Diana Galadyk says a more realistic drill procedure may be needed

“I think that would better prepare students and it would give us a more realistic approach to the plan.”

Other students expressed fear that the current ALICE procedure feels unsafe. One student, Guinevere Stevens, a senior at

LHS, says human instinct makes her want to evacuate rather than hide and or fight, but that evacuating makes her feel like there is a target on her back.

“The main goal is for everyone to get out but that wouldn’t be all that safe,” she said.

“The intruder could come down the hall from hearing all the kids exiting and just start shooting. I think the best thing to do is to stay in the classroom and be ready to fight,” she said.

Brooklyn Emrick, a freshman at LHS said she is concerned about the evacuation plan for the second-floor classrooms.

Brokelyn Emirck a Freshmen at LHS says more tools in the classroom are needed in the event of an intruder threat

“We were told to go out of the window and onto the second roof, jump down and run to the rally points,” she said.

“But I don’t think it would be that safe and I think that we should have some tools to use in the classroom like a rope or portable ladder to get out of the second floor.”

Schools across Ohio and the United States use the same ALICE procedure as LHS. In Monticello, Indiana, a school district attempted to make the intruder drill more realistic by having law enforcement use air-soft guns that shoot plastic pellets.

But according to the IndyStar, the plan backfired when teachers got hurt in the drill.

The IndyStar reported that teachers were asked by local law enforcement to kneel down against a classroom wall before being sprayed across their backs with plastic pellets.

“They told us, ‘This is what happens if you just cower and do nothing,’” said one of the two teachers, both of whom asked IndyStar not to be identified out of concern for their jobs.

“They shot all of us across our backs. I was hit four times.”
“It hurt so bad,” they said.

Typical ALICE training does not call for this type of realism. Currently, the Indiana State Teachers Association is lobbying lawmakers to add language prohibiting teachers from being shot with any sort of ammunition to a school safety bill working its way through the Statehouse (IndyStar).

Still, the question remains, how do school officials create an intruder drill with procedures that seem more realistic without anyone being hurt or frightened, and at the same time, help students and staff feel that the drills are worthwhile?