This petition is to encourage the Bloomfield Board of Education to put more active shooter drill education in place to protect students and staff from gun violence in our schools. On September 11th, students were forced to take lockdown positions during school because there was a  threat at the high school. That scared many students, mostly because they weren’t prepared for what would happen if they faced a true active threat. In response to this incident and others that have occurred recently, this petition has been created. 

Shortly after the lockdown, my school, Bloomfield Middle School, started making us use our IDs to get into the school. I thought this was a great precaution, but it has many flaws that disturb me. For one, they said they would have scanners but it is just teachers glancing at the IDs and just saying 'you're good'. The staff also said that we would be getting scanners for the IDs, but that has yet to happen. However, the most horrifying problem is how easy it is to get in, even without an ID. The other day, I left my ID at home. If you go to my school, you know that kids are given temporary IDs, without their picture day photos on them, before the picture day photos are scanned. My friend let me borrow her temporary ID that day, so that I would be able to get in. I was worried, since it didn't have a picture, but they let me in anyways. Although, of course, I was grateful to not be late to class, this flaw could become a major problem. All someone has to do is pretend they are a student who forgot an ID, or find an ID on the ground(IDs end up on the ground more frequently you'd expect) and they could get in without any problem. This must be fixed.

I have also come across some horrible data about gun violence. In 2024 alone, there were at least or even more than 199 gunfire incidents on school grounds. From these incidents, there have been 55 deaths and 149 injuries. 3 of those incidents occurred in New Jersey. A decade ago, there were only 67 incidents, resulting in 23 deaths and 49 injuries. 

This is a dreadfully important topic that must be discussed. We need safety from this terrible disaster. 

Everytown has brought a few interesting concepts in that seem worth mentioning. Some people may be concerned that the topic is a little old for kids in elementary school, or even kids in middle school. Everytown knows this, and has recognized it in an article of theirs. A few rules they have set with the drills, that I would like to set as well, are as follows:

• The drills themselves will NOT mimic school shootings directly.
• Parents will be informed of the drills beforehand, along with students and staff having it announced to them prior to the actual drill(for younger children, who it will be really traumatizing for if they don't know about it, but older kids would not be informed just so that they take it seriously)
• Schools should each be allowed to design their own type of drill that deemed most safe for the age groups of the students by the staff.
• Along with drills, staff should address the trauma that might occur from them.
• The schools should be tracking data to see how well the drills work and the effects of the drills.

I don't know what policies the Bloomfield School District has set in place regarding active shooter drills, but I am sure we can figure it out.

We, the students and staff, are asking for more time and attention being devoted to the creation of better active shooter drill training. Please sign this petition if you want to help build stronger training for students and staff when it comes to the possibility of active shooters.