I can understand how folks would be worried it may traumatize students to participate in this sort of thing. But if it actually happens, would you not want them to have some semblance of knowledge in what to do? This is the world we live in, since we legislated God out of the schools...if God is out then who is in? Of course, the devil himself, how else can you explain the chaos going on and it isn't going to get better. You can count on it. Just set back and watch.

The way I see it, nobody can ever KNOW what they'd actually do if a gunman invaded their school or workplace or home. You can have training drills where the principal does one thing and the teachers lock their classroom doors and the students duck and cover, but none of that matters if a motivated shooter armed to the teeth with high powered ammunition and assault weapons shows up. People talk about hiring new "school resource officers" with guns, but how much weaponry and ammunition should they carry around a school full of children? The shooters at Columbine and the shooter at Newtown all wore body armor, but you can't have an Officer Friendly walking around in that kind of gear. I say have the drills (without the students-- use adult volunteers) if it would make people feel better, but also expect the rules to go out the door during an actual attack. It would much better for teachers and other school officials to spend time evaluating and possibly defusing the kinds of troubled children who might consider doing a thing like this.

Amy,

School rescource officers are TRAINED highly trained individuals. Regardless of the weapon(s) and ammunition they are equipped with around a school full of children, it is not like they will be taking out the guns and playing with them. They are professionals and we should trust in their training. You may be surpirsed to learn that most SRO officers wear concealed body armor now and always have. So what if "officer friendly" wore body armor outside instead of concealed? He or she is there to protect the kids and the staff. Why can't they walk around in the gear they need to do the job? I don't understand your logic. It is up to the parents and school staff to teach the children that these officers are the "good guys" and that they are there to help. Training is good for any situation, except tin this case thekids should not be involved. Rules do go out the door when an incident occurs, not not as much when repettive training is involved. Remember, it will still be chaotic, but training will result in less chaos. There has to be a better plan to prepare the kids, and that I have no answer for nor am I qualified.

I never understood why somebody thought children were needed for the drill to begin with. The two most important factors in such a dreadful scenario that would need to be drilled is 1) Teachers lock their doors and 2) the response time of first responders to neutralize the threat and treat the wounded. Where would a school full of children be needed for such a drill to be successful? Also, without the school full of children and taking up valuable instruction time, doing it during non-school hours with volunteers allows for the drill to be conducted multiple times to get better at it.

Amy,

An armed school resource officer is a person that will make it much harder for somebody wanting to cause another Columbine or Sandy Hook. A trained person like a resource officer can be effective against body armor. The fact that a shooter knows an armed officer is at the school could possibly be a deterrent to trying anything at all.

Decatur,

I see what you are trying to say, but really think about it my friend. Do you really think young children are going to remember "shooter" training from that one drill they had when real bullets start to fly? I would venture to say that 99.5% will not and will have to rely on the people in charge to tell them exactly what they need to do. So, why put children through that at all? Why cause possible trauma and make some of them fear going to school because the school has now made them think about something a young child should not have to be thinking about. That is a responsibility and burden best left to the adults at the school.