Boothbay Region High School is meant to be a place of learning, growth, and community. While it excels in the first and third aspects, our growth as a school needs to be continued in the area of safety. While I believe our school is a safe place for our students and staff already, we should always be striving to improve our safety procedures and drills, as well as keep our students and teachers up to date on how we are doing on safety as a school community. Although staff ALICE trainings and Staff Active Shooter Response Drills have become a part of the school’s safety plan, students need more drills. I’m calling for a change in how we structure fire drills and lockdown drills so they can be more effective.

At BRHS, the fire and lockdown drills are inconsistent. In the 2025-2026 school year, there were two fire drills in the entire year until late spring, when the remaining four took place to meet the state requirements for fire drills per school year, which is six. There was one shelter-in-place drill (the teacher keeps teaching with the door locked) this year, in the middle of the school year, as well as two lockdown drills in March. The school board has a policy stating that a lockdown drill (barricading the door or evacuating) should take place within the first two weeks of the school year: “Each school will hold at least one lockdown drill during the school year. A lockdown drill should be held during the first two weeks to familiarize students with the procedure.” This language can be found at the BoothbayCSD website under Subsection: EBCB, or with the link: https://sites.google.com/aos98schools.org/boothbaycsdpolicies/boothbayboothbay-harbor/section-e/ebcb?authuser=0

Many BRHS students see the need for a change as well. “I think there should be more lockdown and evacuation drills. Overall, it is becoming more of an issue and worry than fires are. We should continue to keep doing fire drills but also try to enforce more lockdown/evacuation/shooting drills,” one student shared in a survey that I created. Another added, “...the fire drills we do don't really prepare us because we go the same way every time… I also think we should practice lockdown drills more throughout the year.” Many students gave responses expressing concern with the current situation. Showcasing our need for more sufficient lockdown drills, a student mentioned: “My last lockdown/active shooter drill before the one earlier this year was in pre-k.” That statement is alarming. In a country where school shootings are becoming more and more frequent, schools should be practicing lockdown drills as often as possible.

When I asked why fire drills are spread out the way they are, Dr. Tricia Campbell responded: “While state law requires a specific number of drills, our scheduling is heavily influenced by seasonal weather conditions and the academic calendar. In Maine, conducting drills during extreme cold or icy, wet conditions presents secondary safety risks…leading to a higher frequency in autumn and spring.” While weather is a vital safety concern, the reality is that a fire could happen at any time during the year, and we need to be prepared. If there needs to be a higher concentration of drills during the fall and spring, why are the majority during the spring? Shouldn’t we practice earlier in the year to build a foundation of knowledge about our procedures? 

When asked about lockdown drills, Dr. Campbell explained: “... school safety experts nationwide continue to debate the ideal frequency of high-stakes drills due to the real impact they can have on student and staff anxiety… we want to empower our school community with the knowledge and confidence to handle an emergency, but we want to do so without causing unnecessary stress and trauma...” As a teenager who has severe anxiety, I feel more anxious when I feel unprepared for the unknown. While I can’t speak for the rest of the student body, the results of the survey can. 86 out of 163 students responded to my survey, and when asked how prepared they feel the school is for an emergency, 38.4% said somewhat prepared, and 47.7% said only slightly prepared or not prepared. The school is doing a wonderful job taking student’s mental health into account through more in depth drills rather than just frequent ones, and perhaps anxiety would be felt during the drills, but ultimately, practice and knowledge of drills is necessary to build a safe environment. 

I agree that running drills outside in the harsh winter weather is a safety concern and that the majority of drills should be held in the fall and the spring. What I propose is instead of having three fire drills from September to May and then three more in June, (which 83.7% of students surveyed said wasn’t the best way to prepare us for an emergency,) we have at least three fire drills in the fall, one in the winter, and the remaining two in the spring. For lockdown drills, I think that we should have at least three per school year, spread evenly throughout the year, rather than a discussion with local law enforcement and two drills in the middle. The discussion we have shouldn't replace a drill because it isn’t as effective for memory as regular drills. 

Dr. Campbell also referenced the idea of a “feedback loop” for BRHS safety drills. “...Our current organization allows for a continuous loop of feedback and improvement while protecting school climate…Spreading them out gives us time to digest what worked and make meaningful adjustments without keeping the school in a constant state of high alert.” While that seems like a good system, like anything else, there’s always room for improvement. There could be more time to make adjustments that the students can actually practice if the majority of drills were held in the fall. Another improvement would be if students and faculty were involved in a discussion about the drills, because we are currently not involved at all. I propose an announcement over the intercom to debrief after drills, and if there is a more specific issue, an assembly should take place. We could also have more drills than required if that were to fit into the schedule; 79.1% of students surveyed said more drills would be helpful. 

Other Maine schools have a more consistent system for fire and lockdown drills that we could look to as a model. Lincoln Academy, a school in Newcastle, has a statement in their student handbook that “Soon after school starts, students should learn the fire exit procedure for every room.” The handbook also explains that lockdown drills will happen “periodically” during the year. They make fire drills and safety procedures a priority both at the beginning and throughout the year, and we should do the same. 

Whether one or all of these changes are made, I believe that our school would benefit greatly from them. Safety is a key aspect of every school day, all throughout the year, for every member of the school community. Our school’s administration needs to organize our drills in the most effective way possible. Shouldn’t they improve the safety of the school for the students? We’re the future, after all.