The Duval County School District will show students videos teaching them what to do if a shooter were to come on campus. The videos are meant to help prepare students and staff before state-required active assailant drills later this month.
The videos teach students if an active assailant is on campus they may have to run, hide or fight, which is “the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s recommended response to an active assailant scenario,” the district said in an emailed news release Wednesday.
The videos also show an assailant dressed in all black walking around campus, as well as an armed police officer running into the school.
- Watch: The videos on DCPS’s website
“Ensuring a safe and secure learning environment for our children is our top goal,” said Duval Superintendent Diana Greene. “A vital component of safety is preparedness. We want our students and staff to be well-equipped in the event of an actual emergency.”
But not all parents are on board. Duval County parent Allison Jackson got word last month her daughters would be shown the videos in school, when they brought home a memo from school with links to the videos. Despite the district’s saying they’re geared toward young kids, Jackson, who also works as a clinical psychologist, doesn’t think the content is appropriate for young children. And she’s not alone.
The videos were created by the Pinellas County School District, and after backlash from Pinellas parents, that district decided against showing them to elementary school students, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The district is keeping the videos on its website for parents who want to use them.
Jackson said while supports general evacuation drills, she considers the visual of an active assailant on campus to be unnecessary and may create anxiety for her daughters.
“When you’re on an airplane they don’t show the footage of planes crashing,” Jackson said. “I would imagine they would not want the passengers to feel anxious on that airplane.”
In addition she thinks some of the vocabulary is too advanced, like the use of the term “assailant.”
“I did verify that my fourth-grader did not know what that word meant,” she said.
To help parents and guardians decide if they want their children to watch the videos the district is providing a link to them and providing an opt-out option.
“While these videos have been vetted by our district trauma therapists, we want to give parents and caregivers the opportunity to opt their child out, particularly for those students who have experienced trauma in the past,” Greene said.
Jackson, whose daughters will be opted out, said she appreciates the option, but doesn’t consider it fair to all parents.
“If a parent for any reason is unable to access those videos and respond in a quick way to the letter I don’t know that that’s really a fair and meaningful approach to solving the problem,” Jackson said.
Reporter Lindsey Kilbride can be reached at lkilbride@wjct.org, 904-358-6359 or on Twitter at @lindskilbride.
