Students are taught to hide in closets and under tables if there is a school shooting – but does practicing for this possibility keep kids safe?

There have been 63 school shootings – meaning any time there is gunfire on a school campus – so far in 2026. They happen so often that preparing for one has become normal. Students as young as 4 years old routinely practice for the possibility of a school shooting with lockdown drills – typically, hiding in the corner of a dark classroom, behind a locked door. Pauls Valley High School in Pauls, Oklahoma, went into lockdown on April 7, 2026, after an armed gunman fired shots inside the building. Kirk Moore, the school’s principal, tackled the gunman and got shot...