“Law & Order” explores passed bills relevant to teachers and students. What impact will these decisions have on the school?

Despite new legislation that limits what public schools can do during “active shooter” drills to lessen any anxiety students might experience, that does not apply to Sunny Hills, officials said.

“It does not apply to the four types of emergencies that we prepare for: earthquake, fire, shelter-in-place and lockdown,” wrote Christopher Davis, director of safety and risk management for the Fullerton Joint Union High School District [FJUHSD], in an email shared with assistant principal Heather Bradley. 

Sunny Hills is among the six traditional high schools in the FJUHSD.

“A shelter-in-place situation occurs when there is a threat in the vicinity of a campus. A lockdown will occur when there is a threat on a campus,” Davis’ statement continued. “We do not differentiate between a lockdown and an active shooter situation because there are times when it would be appropriate to place a campus in a lockdown when there is not an active shooter — for example, civil unrest on campus or a bomb threat.

“The procedures for the two are the same.”

Davis also informed Bradley that the district does not have any plans to add to the list of drills that students, faculty and staff practice throughout the school year.

“Studies have shown that the high-intensity drills have a negative impact on staff/students,” he wrote.

That negative impact is the main reason why Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill [AB] 1858, which went into effect Jan. 1 of this year.

OVERTLY HIGH-INTENSITY DRILLS

Section 1 of the law summarizes the problems that some students and staff experienced during recent practices to prepare for an active shooter on campus.

“According to various news outlets, some school shooter drills have gone to extreme measures to simulate school shooter or armed assailant incidents. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, during one recent live exercise, high school pupils were deceived to believe a drill was a real event, pupils sobbed hysterically, vomited, or fainted, and some pupils sent farewell notes to parents,” as stated in AB 1858. 

During these instances, there have been cases where pupils risked physical harm during a stampede, as they would jump over fences to escape. 

“In one situation, staff were intentionally shot at close range with pellets as part of a training exercise. Recently, in California, a school superintendent hired a stranger to wear a mask and rattle the doors of classrooms without notice to staff and pupils.”

In addition, pupils were also asked to pretend to be victims and lie down in school hallways with fake blood. Pupils also enacted swarming an intruder or countering the attack with classroom items just as books or sharpened pencils, according to AB 1858. 

Although the legislation doesn’t cite the “news outlets” or the campuses by name, those situations mirrored some reported in online news articles.

According to a Feb. 12, 2024, ABC7 article, San Gabriel’s Washington Elementary School principal was placed on administrative leave after she mimicked shooting her students by using gestures and banging on windows, leaving parents and children disturbed. 

In addition, after receiving concerns from the American Civil Liberties Union, San Marino High School canceled its lockdown drill,  according to a February 2020 Pasadena Star-News article.

The school had planned on using district-initiated blank rounds but later withdrew its decision because the simulation of gun violence could inflict emotional distress on the students. 

OTHER PROVISIONS OF THE LAW TO ABIDE BY

One of the new mandates in AB 1858 involves an opt-out for students upon parent request. Davis said that’s not something the FJUHSD will offer since it doesn’t see lockdown and “shelter-in-place” drills as active shooter ones.

However, district officials have agreed to comply with two other provisions:

• “Notice to all parents and guardians of pupils, teachers, administrators, and school personnel subject to the drills in advance of the drill and of the drill’s expected length of time.”
• “A notice to all parents and guardians after the drill has concluded.”

“Since this is something that is currently being updated by the state, it doesn’t hurt to add it,” Bradley wrote in an email to The Accolade. “It’s just good practice to notify parents, so we plan to do that even though it is not required of us based on the drills that we conduct.” 

That first notification went out from principal Craig Weinreich in an email on Tuesday, Feb. 4, to parents via Aeries Communication regarding the Thursday, Feb. 13, surprise shelter-in-place drill during fifth period.

The next earthquake drill will take place during second period on Friday, March 7, and school officials plan to continue utilizing Aeries Communication to notify parents of the drill, Bradley wrote in an email interview.