Dear Unit 4 School Board Members:

We wish to express concerns about and suggest improvements to Unit 4's crisis plan. We have
reviewed the 3 year plan adopted by the district in September of 2018, researched relevant
legislation, and corresponded with Orlando Thomas.

While we understand the district's obligation to conduct a law enforcement drill, we believe its
current approach to ALICE drills is unjustified. The idea of an active shooter in our schools is
terrifying; however, media coverage and cognitive biases cause us to drastically overestimate
the probability of school shooting events. Over the past 20 years, an average of 10 students per
year have been killed in school shootings. While this is 10 children too many, we must
recognize that children are at greater risk of dying from “traveling to and from school, catching a
potentially deadly disease while in school or suffering a life-threatening injury playing
interscholastic sports.” In fact, the odds of a child in the United States dying in a school shooting
on any given day is 1 in 613 million (Ropeik, 2018).

There is a cost to any effort to minimize this risk: ALICE drills are scary. For students with a
history of trauma, anxiety disorders, or other mental health concerns, these drills cause
significant harm. ALICE drills will increase anxiety in some children and cause many to feel
unsafe in their school environment. Unit 4 recognizes that trauma negatively impacts student
performance (academically and behaviorally) and has wisely committed to trauma informed
practice with students; yet, the district crisis plan is not consistent with those values.

There is no evidence that active shooter drills are effective. A joint report from the National
Association of School Psychologists (NASP) and the National Association of School Resource
Officers (NASRO) notes, “at present there is no empirical research regarding school-based
armed assailant drills.” One expert on school shootings says that there is no evidence that drills
prepare people any better than just instructing them verbally or in writing (Chatterjee, 2019). We
asked why the district selected the ALICE approach and requested data supporting its use,
however, no such information has been provided.

Illinois law now requires districts to complete one law enforcement drill per year. Because active
shooter drills have become common across the nation, best practice guidelines are available.
Unfortunately, Unit 4’s crisis plan fails to incorporate these guidelines. We believe that simple
changes to the plan will remedy this problem. We suggest the following revisions that would
both comply with IL law and mitigate harm to students:

1. No unannounced drills.

The district’s most current written crisis plan includes unannounced ALICE drills.
Orlando Thomas recently said that the district will no longer require an
unannounced drill this year, but the Champaign Police Department continues to
recommend this practice and Mr. Thomas has left open the option for
unannounced drills in schools that request them or in future years. Unannounced
drills violate the best practice standards of professional organizations such as the
National Child Traumatic Stress Network and Safe and Sound Schools.
Additionally, experts suggest that surprise drills can desensitize students to a real
incident (Chatterjee, 2019). The law does not require unannounced drills. They
are inappropriate for all children.
2. Only one announced drill per year with an opt out option

The School Safety Drill Act (public act 100-0996) requires schools to conduct
only one law enforcement drill per year. It is unclear why Unit 4 mandates a
second drill. There is no evidence-based research that supports this decision.

Illinois law includes a provision that states, “administrators or school support

personnel in their discretion may exempt students from the drill” (sec 20.C). Unit
4 must acknowledge that for students with a history of trauma or other mental
health concerns, these drills simply do not have enough benefit to outweigh the
harm. The district should create a clear procedure for opting-out children when
necessary, outline it in its crisis plan, and clearly communicate it to
parents/guardians. A clearly communicated opt out option is recommended by
the NASP/NASRO (p.7-8).

3. Add a mental health professional(s) and parent representative(s) to the crisis team

According to the National Association of School Psychologists’ Best Practice

Considerations for Schools in Active Shooter and Other Armed Assailant Drills,
“school-employed mental health professionals should be involved in every stage
of preparation.” Unit 4 does not have any mental health experts on the team that
designed the district-wide crisis plan. The report also details a number of
considerations such as developmental level, special needs, psychological needs,
trauma history, etc. that should be accounted for in safety planning. (p.6) It is not
evident that these issues have been incorporated into Unit 4’s plans. At least one
expert on child development/ mental health must be added to the district-wide
crisis team to remedy these issues.

Parents/guardians should also have a voice in this policy to help the district
improve communication and ensure that plans reflect community standards.

4. Revise the ALICE presentation for students

The current powerpoint presentation is developmentally inappropriate and

includes outdated/irrelevant “stranger danger” information. A mental health
professional added to the district crisis team should be charged with selecting
age-appropriate social stories, videos or materials to introduce this potentially
triggering topic to children in Unit 4.

5. Create a concrete communication plan

Unit 4’s crisis plan states that the district is responsible for providing an overview
of ALICE to parents; however, it has not communicated what an ALICE drill looks
like in practice or adequately conveyed the scope of its crisis plan. Many families
are unaware that their children participate in active shooter drills at all.
Communication about ALICE drills should be distributed via multiple channels (e-
mail, back-pack letter, district social media, etc) and should include: the date and
time of the drill, a detailed description of what will occur during the drill, a link to
any materials used to explain the drills to students, information on how to opt out
of the drill, and an invitation to a parent/community meeting where they will have
 an opportunity to ask questions. All communications should be appropriately
translated.

We applaud Unit 4 for its commitment to trauma informed practice and hope that these
principles will be incorporated into crisis planning.

Thank you for your consideration,

Amy Aviram, South Side and Edison parent

Bronwyn Cain, South Side parent
Jennifer Enoch, Stratton parent
Karen Johnston, South Side parent
Frank Johnston, South Side parent
Kim Kranich, International Prep Academy parent
Jamie Kozma, South Side parent
Michael Wilmore, Stratton parent

*please email your name/school(s) to karenjohnston1@gmail.com before 8/8/19 if you would

like to sign on to this letter

References

Chatterjee, R. (Interviewer) & Scott J. and Barton, L. (Interviewee). (2019). A Look At the
Impact of Active Shooter Drills [Interview transcript]. Retrieved from NPR website:
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/05/730057542/a-look-at-the-impact-of-active-shooter-
drills?fbclid=IwAR3J4lNb6lmHtMP1-X_lzw-ggHcrwtNNS7RxNOhY_MNYTcNr6BXizxHulYs

Ropeik, D. (2018). School Shootings Are Extraordinarily Rare. Why is Fear of Them Driving
Policy? The Washington Post. Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/school-shootings-are-extraordinarily-rare-why-i
s-fear-of-them-driving-policy/2018/03/08/f4ead9f2-2247-11e8-94da-ebf9d112159c_story.
html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3ac4fddfddcb

NASP and NASRO. (2017). Best practice considerations for schools in active shooter and other
armed assailant drills [Brief]. Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.
Retrieved from http://www.nasponline.org/armed-assailant-drills

NCTSN. (2018). Creating School Active Shooter/Intruder Drills [Fact Sheet]. Durham, NC & Los
Angeles, CA: The National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Retrieved from:
https://www.nctsn.org/resources/creating-school-active-shooter-intruder-drills

The School Safety Drill Act, IL (General Assembly) SB2350 (105 ILCS 128/20). Retrieved from:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=100-
0996&fbclid=IwAR0vVoWbjGZwNQPpSihrXNn9gk14KRUNCZBwUi5Z-ZMxjAlM9yqx5XDblDk