The B asked students and staff to reflect on their personal sense of safety on campus in an anonymous survey. This is what they said:

“Our community can be deemed safe. However, every single community that has had a school shooting says that.”

“No school in the US is completely safe”

“I’m on the lookout everywhere I go.”

In the wake of the recent school shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia, our staff sought to explore a question that’s becoming increasingly urgent across the nation: How prepared is our school for an emergency? Over several weeks, we polled 100 students and 50 staff and interviewed 14 administrators, teachers, security experts, and students to piece together a comprehensive understanding of Burlingame’s safety protocols.

Burlingame hasn’t simulated Lockdown/Barricade drills since 2018, according to an email from former Assistant Principal Michele Fichera. The decision was rooted in guidance from the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE), which advised schools to move away from more traditional active shooter simulations due to concerns about their psychological impact on students.

According to SMCOE School Safety and Risk Prevention Coordinator Mason Henricks, the county cited research from Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit advocating against gun violence, which linked active shooter drills to increased rates of “depression, stress, and anxiety” in “high schoolers, their parents, and teachers.”

Instead, SMCOE urged schools within the San Mateo Union High School District (SMUHSD) to adopt a more “trauma-informed” approach, emphasizing awareness, decision-making, and the ability to “think on your feet” over high-intensity simulations.

“We follow a more trauma-informed approach, teaching students how to think on their feet and be aware of their surroundings, to make decisions, to either escape and get off campus, hide, lock down barricade or protect and defend themselves,” Henricks said.

Burlingame adopted this approach in alignment with the county’s recommendations. 

“We realized that it was more harmful than helpful to practice [simulated Lockdown/Barricade drills],” Principal Jen Fong said.

SMUHSD Director of Student Services Don Scatena said performing Lockdown/Barricade drills are not worth trauma risks.

“Statistically speaking, you’re going to be potentially far more likely to have triggered students as opposed to an actual act of violence,” Scatena said.

Despite the potential trauma Lockdown/Barricade drills can cause, 57% of student respondents agree that simulated Lockdown/Barricade drills would help them feel safer, with 27% feeling unsure, according to an anonymous survey conducted by The B. Freshman Ezra Bartlett Ambrose argues practicing drills reduces trauma rather than creating it.

“Compared to the trauma that someone will face if there’s a school shooter and let’s say you or a friend is injured … That’s going to be way more traumatic than just a simulation that you know was a simulation,” Ambrose said.

Because Burlingame no longer performs these drills, chemistry teacher Joshua Dyl noticed emergency guidelines for staff have become less “concrete,” instead prioritizing flexible real-time procedures for staff.

“It seems like [years] ago, it was like, ‘here’s the plan, here’s what we do in the case of an emergency,’” Dyl said. “In recent years, that’s now shifted from being absolutely concrete to being in the moment, ‘you got to do what you think is safest.’”

Burlingame’s training approach aligns with the county’s broader procedures under the Big Five emergency response plan, developed in 2014 by San Mateo County’s Coalition for Safe Schools and Communities. The plan outlines protocols for Lockdown/Barricade, Shelter in Place, Drop Cover and Hold On, Secure Campus, and Evacuation. While SMCOE cannot enforce these policies, all 23 public school districts in the county have adopted them, said Henricks. 

During the dual Great ShakeOut drill and Big Five emergency training on Oct. 17, Burlingame saw the county’s recommended “trauma-informed” approach put into practice. Assistant Principal Aimee Malcolm led a two-part, 15-minute webinar to instruct students and staff on all five emergency responses. The other 15 minutes were dedicated to simulating drills for Secure Campus, Evacuation, and Drop, Cover and Hold On. 

Malcolm said the administration prioritizes training staff to respond effectively in emergencies.

“We give an overview [of Lockdown/Barricade drills] at the beginning of the year, then on September 18, we went over it again,” Malcolm said.

Malcolm said another Lockdown/Barricade training session for staff will occur on Nov. 15. The upcoming training will avoid simulated active shooter drills and instead focus on ensuring staff understand their roles in executing lockdown protocols.

According to Burlingame Police Department (BPD) School Resource Officer Jarrod Burkholder, in addition to staff training, BPD also has “active shooter training” on campus while students and staff are on break so that officers are “well-versed in the layout.”

Because students don’t participate in training with BPD, the responsibility for effectively executing Lockdown/Barricade procedures rests largely with staff.

“We do a fair amount of training with the staff,” Fong said. “If we were to announce lockdown barricade, we expect the staff to be able to, within seconds, effectively, lock down your doors.”

Despite this expectation, 54% of surveyed staff believe they receive sufficient preparation to respond to potential school threats.

“In my experience, nobody seems to know what to do in [the] event of a school shooting,” one teacher wrote. “There’s a lot of vague and contradictory information out there.”

Another teacher said staff should drill specific Lockdown/Barricade procedures.

“We should practice locking our doors in an efficient manner, windows, covering them up, etc. We used to practice all that,” a teacher wrote. “If someone walks through our front doors with a gun, we are all dead. There is nothing to stop them.”

The numerous points of entry and lack of a physical barrier have raised concerns about outside access to school grounds. Although Burlingame has a closed campus policy, 42% of student respondents reported encountering strangers during school hours. Senior Marco Sodini experienced this first-hand.

“The thing that icks me out is that we have such an open campus anyone can walk in,” Sodini said. “I’m going to the bathroom during class and then I see a lady walking her dog through the quad.”

The presence of trespassers adds to staff apprehension. 74% of staff surveyed think about the possibility of a school threat at least once a month, while 14% surveyed think about it daily.

“The question is, if there is a school shooting, what will the District say they did to prevent it? The answer is nothing really… there are no deterrents around our school to prevent someone from walking in and shooting the place up,” a teacher wrote.

Staff aren’t the only ones who share these concerns: 59% of surveyed students report thinking about a school threat at least once a month.

“It’s disgusting and cruel to students to have to deal with the normalization of mass student killings… That’s not normal…You [should] get to enjoy your youth, rather than having to fear for your [future],” sophomore Simon Jerus said.

Although 78% of students and staff report feeling safe at school, concerns about potential intruders remain.

“The Burlingame community is great, but all it takes is one person to cause havoc,” a teacher wrote.

One proposed solution is building a fence. According to Fong, the idea has been discussed but deemed unfeasible due to aesthetics, cost, and community backlash.

Campus Safety Specialist Ernesto Nuñez said a fence would create designated entrances and exits.

“I think it would help us do our job even better,” Nuñez said.

As schools across the nation navigate strategies to enhance security, the looming threat of violence remains a persistent and unsettling reality.

“In our current climate, schools have become targets for, what seems like, random violence,” a teacher wrote. “This fear is only compounded when our campus feels so open where anyone can walk on at any time. We carry on with our days like normal but there is always this idea, this fear that feels almost inevitable, in the back of our minds.”