Monthly Lockdown Drills To Start In New Jersey Schools In November

At back-to-school night Thursday night at Charles H. Bullock Elementary School, Dr. Barbara Weller, the school's principal, welcomed parents and introduced them to new teachers. And she also introduced them to a new procedure that will start in November: monthly lockdown drills.

Indeed, New Jersey has passed legislation that requires monthly lockdown drills at all public and private schools in New Jersey beginning November 1.

Under New Jersey fire safety regulations adopted in 2009, districts must complete two emergency evacuation drills within 10 days of the opening of school. In addition, districts will transition to one fire drill and one lockdown "or security" drill a month in November.

Weller said the new procedure is not unlike the old Boy Scout adage: Be Prepared.

She said lockdowns shouldn't necessarily conjure up images of anything particularly frightening.

"It could be a tree going down across a power line," she said. "It could be a lightning strike on a railroad track."

In a lockdown drill, Weller said children would stay in their classrooms, be seated on the floor away from windows and doors, and remain quiet for a total of about 10 minutes.

"We'll walk around and check that they're being quiet and that they can't be seen from the doorway or windows," she said.

The legislation, introduced in January 2009, called the lockdowns "homeland security drills" — meaning "an exercise, other than a fire drill, to practice procedures that respond to an emergency situation including, but not limited to, a non-fire evacuation, lockdown, or active shooter situation and that is similar in duration to a fire drill."

In the aftermath of school shootings, many cities and states across the country have required mandatory lockdown drills in scenes reminiscent of the 1950s, when students crouched under their desks in anticipation of a nuclear blast.

In New Jersey, lockdown drills have been tried in many towns already, including Newark. Seton Hall University has even conducted drills with an "active shooter scenario."