Teachers have taken to the internet to share advice with their colleagues of how they keep their students quiet in an active shooter situation.
The discussion started after four people were killed at Apalachee High School in Georgia on Wednesday. Students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and teachers Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie lost their lives, while eight other students and one teacher were injured and are expected to make a full recovery.
Student Colt Gray, 14, has been charged with four counts of murder and appeared in court Friday.
One TikTok user, @mrwilliamsprek, a teacher and content creator, received 2.9 million views after he shared his advice on school shootings.
Mr. Williams said in his video, which is titled Lollipops can’t prevent what happened at Apalachee High School: “I will never forget what [a] veteran kindergarten teacher told me that they do. They keep a bag of Dum-Dums lollipops in their desk and they said ’cause if we’re hiding and I need the kids to stay calm and quiet, I can give them the lollipops and if they’re eating them, they can’t cry.'”
The video has received over 450,000 likes and is flooded with comments from other teachers with what small but vital things they do in their classrooms to keep their pupils calm and quiet.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation outside of Apalachee High School
Mike Stewart/Associated Press
One commenter said: “I teach my kids sign language songs like ‘follow the rainbow,’ and we ‘sing’ together during a lockdown. It’s heartwarming and heartbreaking.”
In addition to sharing advice with fellow teachers, Amelia Sexton, an American Sign Language teacher in Florida, spoke to Newsweek about the practical steps that she takes to keep her students safe in the event of an active shooter.
She said: “I have a corner in my classroom that has three metal bookshelves that we can move to create a barrier if needed.
“I also keep enough textbooks in the classroom for each kid to have at least two, and I literally teach them to cover their head and their heart.”
She added that she encourages her students to feel comfortable coming to her with any fears around bullies or weapons. She has long discussions with her students about their concerns, and makes plans with them about if and/or when to raise the alarm around their issues.
An active shooter drill at Fountain Middle School, CO
Dougal Brownlie/Associated Press
David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database, has been researching how to reduce school shootings since 2018 after the Parkland High School Shooting.
He and a classmate at the Naval Post Graduate School hoped the database could serve as a tool to prevent future incidents by documenting school shootings and develop an understanding of threat assessment.
Riedman told Newsweek: “[We need] public education and standardized reporting system, similar to “see something, say something” so that anyone who spots “red flags” can easily report them to police.”
He added: “Fully funded crisis intervention programs in every community [are needed] to help someone who shows risk factors before they decide violence is their only option.”
