Safety measures were implemented at schools across Florida after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, but are there unintended mental health consequences?
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It’s been seven years since one of the deadliest school shootings in American history. On Feb. 14, 2018, 17 students and faculty members were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
Many school safety initiatives have been created across the state of Florida since that shooting, but what do those safety measures do to the mental state of children?
Active shooting drills, barricaded classrooms and panic buttons, that’s the reality for some children as young as kindergarten, but it’s all in the name of safety.
“The generation we have right now has gone through those drills since Pre-K,” said child psychiatrist Dr. Muniza Shah at HCA Florida Memorial Hospital. “They are becoming desensitized to violence.”
Dr. Shah added that safety does come first, but said parents need to check on their kids, especially the kids who grew up with those safety procedures as normal life.
Many safety measures have been put in place across the state of Florida since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, but Dr. Shah said the constant lockdowns at schools have a direct effect on the mental state of children who experience those safety precautions.
“They’re so common that they’re used to that, and god forbid there’s a chip bag pop up, dead silent, people are ducking under the table, there’s a loud noise anywhere kids are running for safety, that’s what kids grow up in,” Dr. Shah said.
On Thursday Douglas Anderson High School was on lockdown due to the mistaken identity of a staff member.
Exactly one month before that Westside High School was on lockdown due to a nearby shooting.
The month before that Oakleaf High School was on lockdown after a threatening call was made to the school.
Dr. Shah said the constant exposure to violence and safety training has changed the American child.
“Kids exposed to things like that are like living in a warzone,” said Dr. Shah. “They are desensitized to this, they know they need to keep themselves safe but they also think that it’s possible any day,” which Dr. Shah said will lead to adults who view that as the norm.
“They grow up with fear, with anxiety, with anger,” she said, especially now that a generation of children who grew up living with those drills are now starting to have children of their own.
She said her advice to parents is to go through the same training their kids go through so they can better understand the questions their children may ask. “Teachers are doing their best and governments are doing their best but as parents we need to take an active part in learning. What are they telling our kids during drills? Instead of avoiding telling kids what’s right and what’s wrong, process some of that fear.”
Dr. Shah also said that parents should seek professional help for their children if they notice a change in behavior so that behavior doesn’t turn into something more serious.
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