At its July meeting, New York’s Board of Regents voted to amend §155.17 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education to require that emergency response drills are trauma informed.
As defined in the regulation:
Trauma-informed drills means avoiding tactics in training or drills that may introduce or activate trauma, such as the use of props, actors, simulations, or other tactics intended to mimic a school shooting, incident of violence, or other emergency, or inclusion of developmentally or age-inappropriate content. Drills may inadvertently prompt a negative emotional or psychological response in staff or students because of previous exposure(s) to trauma.
The amendment requires that District-wide School Safety Plans and Building-level Emergency Response Plans ensure that that:
- drills and training be conducted in a trauma-informed, developmentally and age-appropriate manner;
- drills and training do not include props, actors, simulations, or other tactics intended to mimic a school shooting, incident of violence, or other emergency; and
- students and staff be informed when a school is conducting a drill.
As a result, realistic active shooter drills are now banned in schools in New York State.
A copy of the The Education Department memo setting forth the amendments can be found here: https://excelsioradvisory.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/724brca6revised.pdf.