What are school lockdown drills like for the littlest students?

When’s lunch?

When’s recess?

Where’s the playground?

Where’s the bathroom?

Is there second lunch?

What happens if a stranger shows up at school?

According to data compiled by Education Week, 28 school shootings nationwide this calendar year have resulted in injuries or deaths. The most recent one was Tuesday at a high school in Omaha, Nebraska, that resulted in the arrest of a 14-year-old student and another student critically injured.

As part of the annual accreditation process, all Oklahoma public schools are required to conduct at least four security or lockdown drills per academic year, including one within the first 15 days of each semester.

State statute specifically requires all students to participate in lockdown drills, which means early childhood educators have had to learn how to adapt those drills and ensuing conversations into something understandable and not overly distressing for a 4- or 5-year-old.

At Aspen Creek Early Childhood Center, some teachers make the intruder drills into a game of hide-and-seek, while others have special songs for students to pick out and sing quietly while in their class’s designated hiding spot.

“We talk about what we have to do if there’s somebody that’s not supposed to be in our building,” pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teacher Amanda Hundley said. “I don’t want to really say a ‘bad guy.’ I don’t want to say those words, but just if there’s somebody that is not supposed to be here, we’re going to hide and make sure that we’re safe and that they can’t find us.”

However, for hide-and-seek to be effective, the teachers and other staff have to build relationships with the children first. During the semester’s early days, Principal Kim Frie and her staff made a point to introduce the students to every single adult in the building and explain how everyone helps keep one another safe.

“We didn’t do our first (intruder) drill until just last week,” she said. “One reason I did that was because I want the children to know the two adults they’re in the room with and that they’re safe with them.”

Although most of her students made it through the school year’s first intruder drill unfazed, Hundley said it did prompt a physical reaction from one girl. However, the child was able to calm down before the drill was over because of the trust she had in her teacher.

“Not having to have 30 minutes afterwards to console comes from building those relationships because we build that trust,” Hundley said. “And that’s our key. That’s the No. 1 top priority when they come in is to build those trusting relationships.”

The importance of a child knowing who their safe, trusted adults are at school was echoed by Dr. Scott Moseman.

An attending physician for Laureate Psychiatric Clinic’s adolescent program and a board-certified child psychiatrist, Moseman encouraged parents to actively listen to their children’s concerns or questions about school safety while refraining from projecting any of their own anxieties.

“Listen first, hear their worries, then try to correct them if there are misnomers,” he said. “Our job as parents to keep them safe and help them find trusted people who will look out for them. Unfortunately, we live in a time where in our country, mass shootings are becoming somewhat common place and almost impossible to avoid.”