Districts discuss active-shooter training, Columbus expands grant money to post-grad prep
Good morning Columbus!
The school year for many districts has officially ended, which means it's time for summer break. And if you're a parent of a recent graduate, know a recent grad, or are one yourself, congratulations!
But with summer officially creeping around the corner, you might be gearing up for a trip to local pools, spending time around Ohio State University's campus, or even looking to go to numerous festivals and events. Regardless, Columbus has a lot to offer to you and your family this season!
Even so, the news doesn't stop, and here's what you may have missed in education news this past week.
Review Session: This week, reporter Megan Henry took a look at what Columbus-area schools are doing when it comes to active-shooter trainings, especially after a shooter killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Since 1970, 6% of active-shooter incidents in K-12 schools have happened in Ohio, with the most recent being in 2017.
In Ohio, schools are required to conduct an annual emergency management test, along with three safety drills. These include an active aggressor drill and a lockdown drill.
Districts such as Columbus City Schools and Upper Arlington Schools follow the "Run, Hide, Fight" guidelines for drills. Others, like Whitehall Schools, have not adopted an active-shooter training model.
"We have simply modified it to awareness training which entails the three threat levels to our students, staff, and buildings. Those levels are perimeter safe, shelter in place, and full lockdown," Whitehall district spokesperson Ty Debevoise said in an email.
Experts like Jaclyn Schildkraut, an associate professor of criminal justice at the State University of New York, said that prior to Uvalde, there were only three school shootings where anyone was killed behind a locked door. In none of those instances were deaths because a locked door failed.
"The perpetrators typically do not have time to defeat the door locks and instead seek individuals who are out in open areas like hallways," Schildkraut said.
However, others, like Sarah Burd-Sharps, senior director of research at nonprofit Everytown For Gun Safety, said it's hard to study the direct impacts of drills on safety, which is why researchers observe compliance with emergency procedures during drills and learn from surveys from those involved following drills.
Extra Credit:
The city of Columbus is expanding its use of $5.86 million from last year to help Columbus high school students with college prep or being trained in a job skill.
State politics reporter Anna Staver took a deeper dive into House Bill 151, which would block transgender girls from playing on female sports teams in K-12 or college.
A longtime Wexner Medical Center senior systems analyst is retiring after 50 years of working at Ohio State's hospital.
Before I go, I want to give a special plug to our Columbus Storytellers Project, which is at 7 p.m. on June 15 at the Columbus Athenaeum. You'll get to listen to five fantastic stories from community members (including fellow education reporter Sheridan Hendrix!) with the theme of "Neighbors.'"You can purchase tickets at dispatch.com/attendstorytellers.
Anyways, thanks for reading this week's education newsletter! If you aren't already a subscriber, please consider doing so to continue getting top-notch reporting from our staff. And if someone sent you this week's newsletter and you think to yourself, "This is news I can use," then we encourage you to subscribe so you don't miss the next one.
Until next time,
Michael Lee
Email: mylee@dispatch.com
Twitter: @leem386
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Greater Columbus districts talk active-shooter training
