Leadership Matters August 2013 issue.pub

New state law mandates school shooting drill By Grace S. Park, IASA Intern

In the aftermath of the tragic shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the General Assembly amended the School Safety Drill Act to mandate that a school shooting drill must be conducted annually at each school building containing students. Governor Pat Quinn signed Senate Bill 1625 on July 1. During the academic year, schools are to conduct six school safety drills. Three of the drills must be fire evacuation drills, including at least one in which the local fire department participates. The other three drills must include a bus evacuation drill, a severe weather and shelter-in-place drill and, per SB 1625, a law enforcement drill involving a shooting incident. Previously, schools could include a shooting incident, but were not mandated to do so. The amendment to the School Safety Drill Act was the result of the discussions that arose from Governor Quinn’s School Safety Summit. The summit was facilitated by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and included law enforcement, fire service, public health and education representatives among its invited attendees. Another change in the law is that local law enforcement is now required to participate in the school shooting drill, much like the local fire department has been mandated to participate in school fire evacuation drills. School administrators and local law enforcement are expected, by mutual agreement, to set a date for the on-site drill during each academic year. If a mutually agreeable date cannot be compromised between the school administrator and the appropriate local law enforcement agency, the school shall still hold the drill without participation from the agency. Upon the participation of a local law enforcement agency in a law enforcement drill, the appropriate local law enforcement official shall certify that the law enforcement drill was conducted and notify the school in a timely manner of any deficiencies noted during the drill. IEMA Director Jonathan Monken said he thinks one of the benefits of the new law is that it will help set a common baseline for schools to be prepared to respond to a shooting incident. “When you look at a state like Illinois, there are 864 school districts, and almost 5,000 secondary and primary schools. So when you look at that number of institutions, that number of facilities, it stands to reason that you will see differences from school to school,” said Monken, who previously served as interim director of the Illinois State Police before being named director of IEMA in 2011. “Some

already integrate well with law enforcement, but we wanted to raise that lowest common denominator to make sure we have a better baseline for what schools are doing in terms of preparedness.” Ron Ellis, who became director of the state’s school and campus security training program after serving 19 years with the Illinois State Police, said that while the change in the School Safety Drill Act will help, there remains a need for consistency. "The problem we have found in going around the state is that everyone is doing it a little bit differently," said Ellis, whose training program is funded by the Illinois Terrorism Task Force (ITTF) and is in partnership with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS). “The School Safety Drill Act says you will do certain types and numbers of drills. It does not say how to do them." Another issue confronting school administrators regarding the new law is whether children should be included in the school shooting drills. The law does not specifically require that students be a part of the shooting drills, leaving that decision up to individual districts. Dr. Gary Niehaus, Superintendent of McLean County Unit District 5, where a student brought a gun to a classroom and fired shots into the ceiling last fall, believes the benefits outweigh the concerns when it comes to involving students of all ages in the drills. “I think it is a major mistake not to include kids in the drills,” said Niehaus, whose district includes 13,600 students and 17 elementary schools, four junior highs and two high schools. “We are certainly sensitive to the age of the students, but still feel strongly that students, regardless of age, should be involved with drills. Prior to drills we notify parents as to what is happening and ask them to talk with their children about the situation.” Photo by David Proeber courtesy of The Pantagraph Matt Chapman, a teacher at Normal Community High School, evacuates students to Eastview Christian Church after gunfire at the high school Friday, September 7, 2012. No one was injured.

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