TRENTON, N.J.--A bill that is expected to enter the New Jersey Senate as Security Director News went to press, would mandate that all public and nonpublic schools in the state of New Jersey to conduct monthly school security drills. If passed by the Senate, students and faculty would be required to practice emergency response procedures such as non-fire evacuation, lockdown and active shooter response drills. 

Assemblyman Frederick Scalera, a primary sponsor of the bill, said that all schools in the state are currently required to have an emergency security plan in place, but many school staff do not feel comfortable with the procedures. “The problem brought up to me by teachers was that they knew they had a plan, but they don’t have a drill [to practice it], or they only have a drill one time a year,” he said.

This bill would require all schools to conduct one school security drill per month along with one fire drill per month, he said. Currently, all schools are required to conduct two fire drills each month.

Scalera said the primary goal of this bill is to familiarize school staff and students with non-fire evacuation procedures so students and staff would know what to do in case of an emergency. “Kids don’t panic for fire drills. I want to make Homeland Security drills the same thing so kids won’t panic,” he said. “This way everybody knows what they’re supposed to be doing at all times.”

Ken Trump, president of consulting firm National School Safety and Security Services, said that more and more states are adopting similar legislation to require lockdown and other school security drills. “Practicing security drills, like fire drills, saves lives and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be preparing students for that potential threatening situation, just as we do for weather and other natural disasters that can potentially occur,” Trump said.

Trump encourages schools to not only run these drills, but to diversify the time of the day to make it more challenging and complicated for students. “Schools should make students think on their feet and seek alternative routes and strategies,” he said. “An evacuation drill during lunchtime is more challenging and disruptive, but school administrators tend to avoid practicing during that time, but that’s when students are more vulnerable and an incident is more likely to occur.”

House Bill A3002 unanimously passed the Senate Education Committee on May 4 and Scalera said he expects it will pass the Senate.