The lockdown, which took place in the fall of 2014, happened more than a year ago. Yet I still closely associate the event with being one of the most long lasting memories from my junior year.  

While it was only a false alarm, the sound of Mr Sondheim’s voice rang through my ears with such sincerity that I immediately texted my friends and family my goodbyes. Why was I so petrified?  Well, because I was under the impression that someone dangerous was loose within our school walls.  But also because I had no idea how to react.

As a school, we don’t take most of our drills seriously.  We go through the motions, trekking from our classrooms to the back field for fire drills, but we do so without really paying attention to what we are practicing for, and that needs to change.

During last year’s lockdown, my sixth period teacher locked the door, turned the lights off and closed the window blinds.  But her instructions for us were to simply “get down.”  We crowded together in groups under our desks and waited.  Had someone actually come in, the body count would likely have been much higher than we would like to admit.

Following the drill, every classroom in Redwood got a “Let’s do this!” bucket, filled with freeze dried food, water, toilet paper and other necessities for a potential lockdown.  But we stopped there, and that wasn’t nearly enough.  Aa school, we need to work together to make changes to our lockdown to make it more effective and engaging.  In early March, “The Blaze” released a video explaining how lockdown drills don’t do much to protect students.  Because students group together behind their desks it doesn’t take much skill to hit a large percent of them, because they compose a bigger target.

If a shooter comes on campus after school hours, we are to run in diagonal lines, and not crowd in big groups.  So why do we stay close to each other when we are in the classroom?  In late March we had another lockdown drill, and as a class we locked the door, turned off the lights and closed the blinds.  But, again we sat in groups lining the classroom walls, making us incredibly easy targets.

In the video published by “The Blaze,” the narrator shows that by having kids spread out through the classroom and throw beanbags at the shooter, fewer shots will be able to hit targets.  As a school we need to work to reduce the severity of potential school shootings by coming up with better ways to utilize our lockdown drills.

We could practice separating ourselves from one another while still protecting ourselves from danger by using our desks to shield ourselves.  Additionally, adding items which we could use to protect ourselves, even if they were as small and simple as beanbags, would add to our safety in the event of a true emergency lockdown.

Also, cell phone usage should not be permitted during lockdowns and lockdown drills.  During last years drill I relied on my phone to keep in contact with my parents and friends, which seemed comforting at the time, but in reality may make the problems worse.  Rumors about runaway prisoners from San Quentin and gunshots being heard in the halls just made us more stressed about what was happening. Letting students use phones may also jam the school’s phone signals and inadvertently encourage parents to come to the school, making the situation worse.

Though the likelihood of another lockdown occurring is low, we still need to take preparation seriously so that in case of an emergency, we will be ready.