Duck and cover! This is not a drill.

May 12, 2023

Dr. Khadijah Costely-White with her newborn baby in conversation with New York Times best-selling author, Jennifer Serravallo, who is a literacy expert and a local Maplewood parent. They discussed safety drills and their adverse effect on children. The exhibit is at the publically owned 1978 Maplewood Arts Center.Ande Richards |NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

I remember that warning siren blaring in the classrooms and hallways of my elementary school. This sound meant that my classmates and I should duck and take cover underneath our wooden desks. Our teacher would get on her knees, crouch and cover her head with her hands. Why? To protect ourselves from a possible atomic bomb attack from the Soviet Union of course.

Even as a kid, I wondered how hunkering under my desk would save me from a bomb that could decimate a country. At least when we had fire drills we left the building and that seemed to make sense. The desk drill was far from life-saving, but I suppose it gave adults a psychological sense of control over outside forces.

It's a very different world since I went to elementary school in the 70s, one that seems to eclipse the threat of the USSR because the bad guys are here with us, in our cities and our towns.

Dr. Khadijah Costley White, a professor of Journalism at Rutgers University-New Brunswick has explored the effect that active shooter drills have on children and their adult counterparts in a project she created titled "Lockdown Culture," which was endowed with a fellowship from the Whiting Foundation.

In response to acts of gun violence, schoolchildren may have to duck and cover, hide in closets, fight back or even jump out windows. The ramifications of these drills in preparation for potential violence can come with a high cost to their mental health.

Instead of writing a paper, White thought about how she could share her research with the public. She began by interviewing 20 former and current teachers, students, and parents about lockdown drills and transformed that data into a multimedia installation to punctuate her findings.

She erected five booths — which looked like large closets — and installed lights and audio recordings of interviews with students who had experienced active shooter drills. Her installation is currently at the 1978 Maplewood Arts Center.

Claustrophobic makeshift closets were used to simulate the feeling of being trapped in a small space. Once inside the dark box, audio recordings of students and teachers who have had to perform these drills allowed the audience to hear their thoughts and uneasiness around both the stressful participation in these drills and the lingering notion that one day the drill could be a reality.Ande Richards |NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

"When we talk about gun violence in schools, the only solutions that we often hear in the media are solutions are either children fighting a gunman or more police or arming teachers," White said. "Like, is this the idea? Warfare? Are we proposing that we turn schools into war zones as opposed to really thinking about the root issue — how do we get guns out of people's hands?"

Metal detectors, armed guards, and active-shooter lockdown drills are now commonplace. But these changes in school security are often at odds with a healthy learning environment, contributing instead to a culture of fear and anxiety.

White says a school security guard visited the exhibit and he told her there was an incident in the neighborhood and the police locked down the school until 7 p.m. That meant the children could not go home, eat or leave the classroom to use the bathroom.

Juliet Herndon is a mother of two. She brought her 6-year-old son who attends the South Mountain Elementary School in South Orange with her to the "Lockdown Culture" exhibit.

"There was one booth that was like super sensory overload," Herndon said. "Where they repeat over and over in a loud voice ‘This is a drill, exit the building’ and there is an intense bright red light. We didn't make it through the end of the whole presentation in that booth because it was just too much for us. You know, it was so intense."

Herndon says the thing that stuck out to her was imagining that kids are listening to this and the impact it would have on them. In another booth, children recounted their experiences.

"It was heartbreaking to hear what our kids are going through," she said. "These drills are proven to be ineffective and actually don't prevent any school shootings. So it's like we’re spending all this time and resources on something that isn't going to be helpful in the end right?"

May 24, 2023, marked the one-year anniversary of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas where 17 children and two teachers were killed by a local teen. As news of school shootings continues to break with agonizing frequency across the country, school districts have taken measures they claim will keep students safe.Ande Richards |NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

"The installation is a thought-provoking piece of art and it is both educational and an opportunity for advocacy," said Sally Unsworth, the head of arts and culture for Maplewood Township. "I also have young kids who are part of what is I think the epidemic of drill culture."

She says when she first went through the exhibition it jolted her.

"It drives home the reality of the fear of experiencing those drills when there are not any real peer-reviewed studies on the effect of those drills on kids."

She says the noise surprised her, and the idea that children are not being told they are in a practice drill.

"You’re not prepared to hear that it's not actually happening," she said. "That was the experience my son had in kindergarten. He wasn't told on the first drill of the school year that it wasn't real. The teacher didn't want to say there was a bad person in the school because they were so young. So she told them that there was a wild animal loose in the school."

She says her son told her about the drill and she explained it wasn't real.

"He was more upset that his teacher lied to him," she said. So now he's lost trust in her. How does that help if there's an emergency?"

Unsworth says the adults need to be ready. They need to go through simulations and need to practice and train but a kindergartener does not need to be in fear during a drill. They need to be reassured and that is not happening in these practice situations.

White says drills start in preschool and maybe even in daycare in New Jersey. She wants her installation to be experienced by people who make decisions about conducting these drills in schools — she’d love to see her work at the statehouse in Trenton.

"As a parent, these drills terrify me because I have a son who's autistic," she said. "He's kindergarten age, four years old. And when these drills happen they treat every child as if they are all the same, that they all have the same background, that they can all handle, you know, changes in the classroom and loud noises and hiding in dark rooms."

"I think we’re harming kids. And so as a parent, I was trying to imagine what this is, what this experience means to kids who are going to be dealing with it for the next 12 years of their lives. What that will be like for them?"

"Lockdown Culture" is on display at the 1978 Maplewood Arts Center, 1978 Springfield Ave. in Maplewood through the holiday weekend including Memorial Day.

Khadijah Costley White Ph.D. is the 2020-2021 Whiting Foundation public engagement fellow and a professor of Journalism at Rutgers-New Brunswick.

Ande Richards wants to hear from New Jersey's communities of color, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ communities, and those who feel underserved by traditional media. She may be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @anderichards.

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