Seva Hester
Editor-In-Chief
Silence captivated the hallways. Until the sound of gunshots at Santa Fe High School rang out, shooting through windows, classrooms, kids.The thought of school being a safe place was now shattered like the broken glass littering the floor. School shootings are becoming an epidemic, with nearly 346 mass shootings happening in 2017, about one per day. School districts across the United States have begun to implement changes and Northside has now done so as well. Starting second semester, lockdown drills will have a new name: active shooter drills. Before the drills will begin, Northside will release a safety training video to all high school students in addition to middle school.
“We’re getting to roll out a training video. That training video is being developed, and is in its final vetting process. Then it’s gonna be rolled out to all students. So the District wanted to wait till that video was complete before we begin to do the drills because the video is a training video. But those specific active shooter drills won’t be until the spring semester,” Vice Principal Ryan Purtell said.
The change was approved at an NISD Safety Committee meeting last spring suggested by a student member voicing concern about the vague lockdown labels.
“I think [the name change] represents situations more clearly than they used to. I think when you use the term ‘active shooter’ people immediately move into a protective mode that a lockdown may not generate,” AP World and AP European history teacher Jennifer Stevens said.
Students shared concerns regarding the need to change it.
“I feel very concerned because school shootings have become such an epidemic that we need to have whole practices dedicated to knowing how to address that situation if it were to occur instead of learning,” senior Katie Aspinwall said.
Some shared shared that the change is no different from a regular lockdown drill. “It makes no difference to me it’s for the same purpose,” senior Abigail Dixon said. However, a thought among students is these drills will cause more fear.
“Changing the name will most likely instill more fear in people,” Dixon said. Others shared that using the new term will bring awareness to the situation.
“I hope it will raise awareness to that fact that school shootings are happening so often that we need to prepare for them, and people will be moved to take action to prevent them from happening in the future,” Aspinwall said.
Along with bringing awareness, the name change should give a better representation of mass shootings.
“I hope students don’t panic when they hear this,” Stevens said. “That’s one reason I think the drills are a really good idea, but I think the students and faculty both will take it a little more seriously when they use the term ‘active shooter.’ It just represents things that have happened in the United States over the course of the last few years and so, it’s a more accurate description.” With the name change itself, Stevens shared that she believes it isn’t critical, yet it is more accurate to the purpose of preparing students in case there was an active shooter.
However, Dixon said the drill will not have an effect on the student body.
“The drills will not have an effect as long as the current mindset continues, because no one believes anything until it stares them in the face,” Dixon said.
The main goal of the name change is to prepare students in case an event like this does happen. Yet a routine may come with its fair share of problems.
“My concern is that it will normalize school shootings because we have a routine drill to know how to handle them, and now people might see school shootings as an everyday occurrence that doesn’t have to be taken care of,” Aspinwall said.
There is no released schedule of when Northside schools will perform active shooter drills. However, these drills will hopefully have an impact on schools in the United States.
“The impact I hope to see is one of change. I hope everyone will realize that we need to do everything in our power to prevent such horrible tragedies from ever happening anymore,” Aspinwall said.