Last week, the New York Board of Regents implemented new guidelines that will alter the manner in which students in schools throughout the state participate in mandatory active shooter drills.
Starting this fall, parents of over six million children across New York will receive a notification one week prior to any of the state’s four mandatory lockdown drills. This new law aims to keep parents informed and prepared for emergency situations in schools.
Frank Ferraro, a father of four, expressed his desire to have a conversation with his younger children from second to fifth grade to inform them about the upcoming events. He used informal language by saying “ya know” while expressing his intentions.
According to Ferraro, informing parents about active shooter drills remains crucial, even though his children are no longer in grade school.
According to Ferraro, there was never a gun lockdown or anything of that sort. He suggests that any lockdowns that may have occurred were due to some other incident taking place.
The State Education Department has announced that as of July 31, new guidelines will be implemented. The updated regulations mandate that lockdown drills be conducted in an “age appropriate” and “trauma informed” manner, in addition to requiring parental notification. This development was the result of a bipartisan effort by lawmakers seeking to decrease the number of mandated lockdown drills from four to two per year.
Ferraro suggested that it would be better to communicate with individuals before training them for scenarios involving guns. He commented, “If somebody is going to scare them with somebody coming in with a gun, and they want to train them for that…You know, we should talk to them before that happens.”
According to state law, schools are mandated to conduct a minimum of eight evacuation and four lockdown drills annually. In fact, New York has taken it up a notch by increasing the number of school drills required in 2016, surpassing over 47 other states in the United States.
