Background:

Current state law requires schools to conduct at least one safety-related drill per month, including summer months when school is in session with students.  These drills must teach students three basic functional drill responses:

• shelter-in-place is used to limit the exposure of students and staff to hazardous materials, such as chemical, biological, or radiological contaminants, released into the environment by isolating the inside environment from the outside;
• lockdown is used to isolate students and staff from threats of violence, such as suspicious trespassers or armed intruders, that may occur in a school or in the vicinity of a school; and
• evacuation is used to move students and staff away from threats, such as fires, oil train spills, lahars, or tsunamis. 

 

Schools must document the date, time, and type of each drill and maintain the documentation in the school office.

Summary of Bill:

Lockdown drills may not include live simulations of, or reenactments of, active shooter scenarios that are not trauma-informed and age and developmentally appropriate.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Available.

Creates Committee/Commission/Task Force that includes Legislative members: No.

Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony:

PRO:  Active shooter drills can leave students and staff feeling upset, terrified, and traumatized, especially if the drill is unannounced.  This type of drill can increase feelings of depression, anxiety, and fear of death.  Drills are important, but if they are not implemented correctly, they will cause harm.  Drills should prepare not scare.  This bill requires active shooter drills to be trauma-informed and age-appropriate.  Simulations should happen at higher grade levels because it is good practice, but families and students should be notified of the drills and have the choice of whether to participate.  A lot of money has been spent on school security, which means less money for school nurses, guidance counselors, and academic enrichment.  The focus on hardening schools distracts from policies that will work like stricter requirements for safe storage of firearms, more mental health counseling, and better threat assessments.

Persons Testifying: PRO: Representative Amy Walen, Prime Sponsor; Nancy Dombrowski, Moms Demand Action; Anna Hernandez-French, OSPI; Kathryn Salveson, Washington State Association of School Psychologists; April Schentrup; Justine Stromberg; Arnav Bhat, Student Odle Middle School; Dyuti Joshi, Student Odle Middle School; Diego Garcia Rodriguez, Student Odle Middle School; Melissa Pope, Student Odle Middle School; Manvir Randhawa, Student Odle Middle School; Rakin Showki, Student Odle Middle School.

Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying: No one.