PART 2: On Your Side Investigation: Should Missouri law require students to participate in active shooter drills?

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – We continue our On Your Side Investigation about school drills. In part 1 of this story, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, or DESE, collects records for only two types of drills: earthquakes and active shooter. Missouri law does not demand schools to practice what’s known as the big four: a tornado, earthquake, fire, and active shooter.

The Missouri law for active shooter drills does not require students to participate. On Your Side asks those in power if that should change. “A group of teachers can do a lot, but if we don’t involve students, they really won’t know and have the confidence on what their teacher is leading them toward or from a building,” said Dr. Richard Asbill, Superintendent of Bolivar Schools.

“I think absolutely,” said Dr. Travis Graham, Superintendent of Purdy Schools. “We’re an educational facility that services students and kids.”

“It’s sobering,” said Dr. Della Bell-Freeman, Superintendent of Spokane Schools. “I’ve seen teachers when they go through it. The blanks are being shot, like a shotgun, in the building. So they would know how that sounds. I’ve seen them break down and cry. I think if you include kids, you have to be careful because some of the kids have been through traumatic situations themselves, and that could be triggering. I do think our students should practice the intruder drill. We always have to take into account their developmental level and their ages and make it age-appropriate.”

“I think it would be great to have students do drills for security reasons,” said U.S. Senator Josh Hawley. The more information we can get to kids, the better the procedures are. It only enhances the security of the school.”

Each district must submit yearly documents to DESE saying they did the two required drills.

“If we had a district that appeared to not be meeting the requirements in law, we would obviously provide some technical assistance and consultation through that regional staff member to get that district into compliance,” said Mallory McGowin, Director of Communications for Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. “Understand and investigate what’s happening and ensure those drills are taking place.”

You might remember in our first story, shortly after Dr. Travis Graham became superintendent of Purdy Schools, he marked no, since he didn’t know and wrote: ‘District has not engaged in active shooter training to my knowledge.’ Ashley Reynolds asked Dr. Graham, “When you wrote no that year, did you get feedback from your local DESE rep?”

“I didn’t get any response as to what are you doing to rectify this,” he said.

On Your Side told the DESE spokesperson what he said and got this response in an email: ‘The statute does not prescribe how often they {drills} should be conducted.’

As we told you last week, Purdy improved and now does drills every year with law enforcement, staff, and students.

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