Gluesenkamp Perez Amendment to Ensure Parents Have the Choice to Opt Their Kids Out of Active Shooter Drills Passes Appropriations Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Last night, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) proposed an amendment during a House Appropriations Committee markup that would ensure no federal resources can be used to conduct mandatory active shooter drills in schools that do not give parents the choice to opt their students out of participation. The amendment passed through committee on a bipartisan basis.

"After my three-year-old had to participate in an active shooter drill in daycare he started talking about shooting bad guys for the first time in his life. Another parent I know told me that their fourteen-year-old needed to start taking anxiety medication after being required to participate in one of these exercises. The data backs these stories up. There is no evidence that mandatory student involvement in active shooter drills decreases fatalities, but there is a lot of very clear evidence that these are profoundly psychologically traumatizing exercises," said Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez. "I'm heartened that my amendment to ensure that no federal dollars can be spent on active shooter drills by schools that don't give parents the choice to opt their children out has passed the Appropriations Committee on a bipartisan basis. We must not burden the failure of adult society on the shoulders of children."

Currently, the majority of states - including Washington - require all public schools to have an emergency response plan. These plans often include active shooter drills, which are usually conducted without prior notification to students and parents and are associated with a 42% increase in stress among students as well as a 39% increase in depression. Additionally, there is no evidence that mandatory student involvement in active shooter drills decreases fatalities.

Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez's remarks in support of her amendment can be watched here and a full transcript is below.

"Earlier this year, I met a reality that I believe all first-time parents of school aged children in this country face. I got a notification from my daycare that they had an active school shooter drill for my three-year-old. And after that, my son started talking about shooting bad guys for the first time in his life.

One parent I know, and parents, the group of parents I hang out with and talk with, and I see at the rivers, they're all talking about this. One parent I know told me that after their fourteen-year-old was required to be involved in a mandatory school shooting drill, they stopped sleeping at night. They went on anti-anxiety medication. And when the parents petitioned the school to be excluded from mandatory school shooter drills, their petition was denied.

The data on this is very clear. There is no evidence that mandatory student involvement in active shooter drills decreases fatalities. There is a lot of very clear evidence that these are profoundly psychologically traumatizing exercises.

The American Association of Pediatricians does not support mandatory student participation in active shooter drills. Everytown for Gun Safety does not support mandatory student participation in active shooter drills. Moms Demand Action do not support mandatory school shooter participation. The NEA, the AFT do not support this exercise in security theater.

The Department of Education came out with support this year. They state that failure to allow parents to opt their children out when they have a documented case of anxiety disorder is likely a violation of the ADA.

Ask yourself which tax bracket of parents is most likely to be able to afford a diagnosis of anxiety disorder?

Why are we funding programs from the 1990s?

Why are we funding programs with no evidence of efficacy?

School shootings are too serious a threat to continue to fund solutions that are not effective. Schools that want to mandate mandatory participation can still do that under this amendment, but not with federal dollars.

If this amendment passes, we can still mandate adult involvement in shooter drills.

And I could have printed out some pretty heinous examples of what goes on in these school shooting drills. Fake blood on theater kids. Gunfire played out over the PA system.

But I wanted to give this body more dignity than our children are afforded.

My amendment would simply prohibit schools from using funding to conduct student involved active shooter drills without first allowing parents the opportunity to exclude their children.

I know that this frame of discussion is a little bit different than how we typically discuss this issue, in this body, but I guarantee that every group of parents is having this debate.

If you're skeptical of Everytown or NEA or AFT or the American Association of Pediatricians, that's fine. But I'm asking you to affirm the rights of parents to decline that their children are used as props in a psychologically traumatizing security theater.

Do not burden the failure of adult society on the shoulders of children.

I humbly ask that this committee support my amendment, and I yield back."

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