In 2023 alone there have already been 33 deadly shootings inside or on school campuses according to Education Week. This is a problem that has been around for years with little to no permanent solution and yet it is one of the least remembered drills out of the three we do at Mount Vernon. Many people say it will never happen, but I’m sure that’s exactly what many of the kids involved in these horrible events thought. 

With the rate of these events going up, the level of training for staff and students on what to do in that situation should also go up. As of 2023, students are just briefly informed on what we would do in the case of such an emergency with there being an actual practice drill also happening in the middle of the year but if the students know that the drill is coming it will never be the same as the real thing.

We can see many threats within 20-30 miles. Just this October the whole of Cedar Rapids Community School District decided not to send kids to school after a threat was made towards two schools. The threat was made over social media and could not be tracked back to who made it. The school district did not know what the best course of action would be as they had not planned for such an anonymous message.

Schools should have some sort of plan for every believable incident because, in today’s day and age, anything can happen in the blink of an eye. When it comes to these emergencies you can’t come up with a plan at the moment you need to have one ready. 

Mount Vernon being a small town school like it is, does not stop somebody from doing something horrible. The students need to be more prepared for an event such as an intruder and the best way to prepare for such an event is to simulate it. I believe that the school board along with the parent body of Mount Vernon Community School District should think of a more effective way to simulate than just an intruder/lockdown drill.