The impact of active shooter drills on students and families in Tampa Bay

Spectrum News 13 | By Fallon Silcox | October 28, 2024

TAMPA, Fla. — Active shooter drills and threats have become a significant aspect of students’ lives. Research from the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Social Dynamics and Wellbeing Lab indicates that these drills are linked to a 42% rise in stress and anxiety among students. However, they’ve also been found to be necessary to keep students safe.

How do these threats impact families in Tampa Bay, and what can you do to reduce their harmful effects on mental health?

“It seems like there’s something all the time, some kind of threat,” said Brandon Jones, who has two teenagers — one a senior in high school, and Zach, an eighth grader at Mulrennan Middle School.

Jones said he can’t remember any school year with as many active shooter threats as this year.

“You get that text message at work that there’s a lockdown going on or something, and of course, that’s quite alarming, because you don’t know what’s going on there,” Jones said.

This uncertainty adds a new kind of stress for parents and students.

“If I hear about a threat or something, we had one on Friday on a snap chat story or something, so it definitely was on my mind, thinking about what would I do, but not every day I think about it,” said son Zach Jones.

He mentioned that this school year, he created a plan for how he would respond to an active shooter situation depending on which class he’s in, if it were to happen.

Brandon Jones reflected, “That’s something he never even considered when he was 13 — how to survive a day at school. Physically they might be OK, but there’s got to be some sort of mental and traumatic impact having to live that way.”

And it does, according to Tameisha Hinton, a research assistant professor at the University of South Florida and project director for “Project SAFETY-2.”

Funded by a $2 million grant from the Department of Justice, Project SAFETY-2 is set to run through 2025. In collaboration with Hillsborough County Schools, USF is developing guidance for threat management and assessment practices.

“It creates a sense of hopelessness and fear that this can happen on my school campus, with some students’ mental health is already on the rise among students,” said Hinton.

She emphasized that the impact of active shooter threats go beyond students affecting school staff and parents as well.

“There’s a growing need for mental health counselors in schools to help everyone process these events, whether they happen locally or out of state,” Hinton said. “Often times, staff members have to man the doors, or they have to monitor lunch, or the bus line, or pick up line at school so it’s not always able to have access throughout the day when things are going on, so having increased personal, especially mental health professionals who have expertise can help alleviate this issue as well.”

The father and young son say they try not to live in fear.

“People’s threats are made to scare you. It’s not made to make you happy and stuff, so make sure you’re still concerned but don’t start going crazy about it,” said Zach Jones.

And instead of going crazy, they appreciate each and every day.

“Tell the kids goodbye in the morning, and like, hey have a great day, love you, but you really don’t know what they’re going into that day,” said Brandon Jones.