Are substitute teachers ready for a school shooting?

While prepping for the new school year, are substitute teachers getting the same training as full-time teachers on emergency procedures?

Imagine that you are a substitute teacher who works once a month at different schools in your local district. While you are teaching morning classes, you hear a loud bang in the hallway. The classroom door is already locked and the students in your room are safe. You pull out your phone and open the school’s security app. From looking at this app screen, do you know what button to press?

• Does "secure" mean that "I'm safe and secure right now"?

• What’s the difference between secure, lockdown, and hold?

• Does “shelter” mean run to the storm shelter because a tornado is coming or does it mean hide in the corner of the classroom with the lights off?

• When do you press “evacuate” versus pulling a traditional fire alarm?

• Why is “team assist” different from the other buttons and what does it mean?

When a shooting on campus happens, every teacher—full-time educator, first day teacher fresh out of college, or a part-time substitute—needs to understand exactly what to do during an emergency.

When a former student started firing shots inside The Covenant School in Nashville, substitute teacher Cynthia Peak was in the school office when students started to evacuate. She was killed as she headed down the stairs while the shooter was coming up.

It’s not just apps that are confusing. On the first day of school in Lexington, SC this year, a network error set off the active shooter alarm. In another case last year, the teacher's computer had a secret key command to set off the active shooter alarm. Without any training on the system, a substitute teacher inadvertently set it off twice in the same day. During the first alarm, students jumped out of windows and ran from the school. When the alarm went off a second time, administrators decided to cancel classes for the remainder of the day.

Unlike fire alarm systems that have an entire book of standards and regulations from the National Fire Protection Administration, there are no national performance or system standards for active shooter alarms. It’s not even clear what agency would be responsible for this oversight. Every fire alarm in the United States has a similar look, simple labeling (including Braille), bright red color, accessibility standards (e.g., height, clearance, pull weight), and clear signage. Meanwhile, every school security product is different, and the design/user interface is up to the vendor.

Because of these national standards, a fire alarm pull station can’t be replaced by a cellphone app. But many schools rely on app-based alerts for any security related incident. When a man with rifle was on campus at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, staff got text messages telling them to log-in to a 3rd party vendor’s app.

If you need to log-in to an app to get a message about a lockdown, an occasional sub might have an older version of the app or an expired password. Who is checking to make sure every staff member has access to the app and a fully charged personal cellphone at the start of every school day?

On a recent episode of the Back to School Shootings podcast, Officer Seth Capps from Mineola ISD explained that every substitute teacher in their school system needs to complete 4-hour safety training every summer before being allowed in a classroom.

Confusing Procedures

Before active shooter alarms were invented, the only alarm that would go off in a school is the fire alarm. When the alarm bells ring, everyone lines up and walks to assembly points outside of the building.

But lockdowns and active shooter alarms have made this simple procedure very confusing for both full-time staff and an occasional substitute teacher dealing with an emergency. Just look at this guidance for teachers from the State of Colorado:

1. If the fire alarm goes off, evacuate.

2. If you are on lockdown and the fire alarm goes off, don’t evacuate.

3. If you aren’t on lockdown but you think there might be a threat and the fire alarm goes off, wait for the administrator to tell you what to do.

4. If a fire alarm goes off during any situation, use your best judgement.