Dear Neighbor,

School shootings are a uniquely American tragedy. In no other country in the world is it so commonplace for children to be routinely shot and killed while at school. There have been 23 school shootings in America this year. There have been 168 school shootings in the last 5 years.

Rather than confront the actual causes of this carnage and violence, we’ve instead convinced ourselves that the best and only way to keep children safe is to make them practice lockdown drills so they hopefully learn what to do if a shooter comes to their school.

In New York, we mandate by law that children experience four lockdown drills every year. By the time a child graduates high school, they will have experienced more than 60 lockdown drills. This is the highest mandate in the country.

While it may seem that teaching children how to survive a school shooting is intuitive, the reality is that lockdown drills are deeply traumatizing for children. Too many parents tell stories of their children texting them goodbye messages, imagining the drills are real, or having nightmares for weeks afterward. Studies show that these drills lead to a 39% spike in depression, a 42% increase in stress and anxiety, and a 23% increase in overall physiological health problems.

There’s a better way to keep kids safe.

Under my new bill, New York would reduce its ineffective and excessive lockdown drill mandate from four drills to at least one each year, giving schools and school districts the flexibility to offer more if they choose to. Additionally, parents and guardians would receive advance notice of these drills, allowing them to opt their children out as needed. My legislation would also require trauma-informed standardized training for teachers and school staff on how best to conduct drills, including how to respond to students’ physical, emotional, social, and developmental needs during these drills.

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As a parent, I understand the supernatural instinct to want to do whatever possible to keep our children safe and far from harm’s way. But keeping our kids safe also means sparing them the psychological harm that comes from simulating active shooter scenarios 60 times.

We need to make sure that our kids both feel safe and are safe at school, even if the worst happens. We also need to make sure that we aren’t causing our children more trauma with excessive and ineffective lockdown drills. My bill is a clear and commonsense way to do that.

In service,