Q&A with Alicia Stenard

What inspired you to write The Elephant in the Room: A Lockdown Story?

When our school district began requiring lockdown drills, I searched the internet for the best way to approach this with my kindergarten class. All I could find was the direct, brutally honest, “bad guy in the school” scenario. That was usually followed by the statement that I should remind my students it is very unlikely this situation would ever happen. Honestly, I thought this was terrible advice. Children can’t yet differentiate between “likely and unlikely.” In their minds, “if we are preparing for it, then it is going to happen.” So, out of a desire to protect my students from the fear associated with lockdown drills I wrote this story and I had terrific success with it! After just one reading of the story my class was consistently able to get into lockdown mode in 10 seconds- and never once with any tears or fear! I hope that my fellow teachers can also benefit from this gentle approach to this tough subject.

Describe your book.

The Elephant in the Room: A Lockdown Story tells the tale of a classroom of students, a circus truck with flat tires and a monkey with the key to the animals’ cages. The story takes place on National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day and the circus animals are on the loose! They come into the school building in search of the students’ lunches and the class must follow their lockdown drill procedures so the animals will not find their sandwiches. It’s a fun story with a lot of imagination and a healthy way to practice lockdown drills. The animals are looking for the sandwiches, rather than the children; and this was included so the children practicing a lockdown drill would not feel personally threatened.

How will this book help me in my classroom?

There is an exciting and fun feeling to the book, with an appropriate level of tension. Most importantly, it allows teachers to practice their lockdown drill procedures without causing an emotional disruption to the day. The first time I taught lockdown procedures using this book, my class was able to learn and practice the procedures and be back to our schoolwork in 15 minutes. After the first reading of the book my class could drop what they were doing and be in lockdown in 10 seconds! None of my students experienced a negative emotional response and it did not disrupt our learning. When I saw how effective my story could be, I wanted to share it with my fellow teachers. It is a better approach for everyone: for the children, teachers, administration and parents!

What issue are you confronting and ultimately solving with your book?

If our goal is to get children to respond quickly and quietly to a lockdown drill, then let’s practice that. It isn’t necessary to frighten our children in order to meet our objective.

Why does your approach work?

It works because our children’s imaginations are the secret ingredient. Why not embrace this and use this to everyone’s advantage? Developmentally, children between the ages of 2 and 7 are in a stage called Magical Thinking. This stage is the reason children believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. It is the reason they believe they are Spiderman, not pretending to be Spiderman. This fun stage of development allows us to put off the full explanation of lockdown drills until they are a little older. My book reinforces the lockdown drill procedures so children are prepared. Instead, it replaces the frightening scenario with something more age-appropriate and imaginative.

What’s wrong with the current way we are practicing lockdown drills?

There are many things wrong with it. The Washington Post recently published an article stating that a child has a 1 in 614,000,000 chance of being killed by a gun in school. We all are aware of the horrific shootings that have taken place and I am not minimizing these tragedies in any way. However, we practice lockdown drills routinely, and do so in a very realistic, emotionally charged way. We prepare our children for something that is statistically unlikely while causing emotional harm every single time we do it. It’s as if we have forgotten the objective of lockdown drills is to get children to respond quickly and quietly. Instead we put the focus on the terrifying situations that may lead to a lockdown. We are not being considerate of our children’s developmental stages or their emotional health. In addition, we are being much too forthcoming with young children about the “why” of lockdown drills. The result is we are terrifying our children and creating anxiety that has long-lasting repercussions. Even though my book is geared toward our youngest students, I think extreme care needs to be taken in how we approach lockdown drills with all students. Lockdown drills are often too realistic and can be just as frightening to older children as well.

What do you see as other negative consequences to the current lockdown drill procedures?

When young children are in school for the first time, they are trying to develop a sense of trust in their teachers, in their peers and in the school environment. This trust takes time and people need to be relaxed in order to develop trust. When we put the frightening scenarios in their minds with lots of real-life details regarding lockdown drills, we are interfering with this trust process. Children who are not relaxed in the environment do not learn as well. Ultimately, scary lockdown drills interfere with learning. Additionally, anxiety is skyrocketing in children. Frightening and realistic lockdown drills may be a source of this anxiety and are certainly adding to it. It is a cruel thing to routinely practice realistic lockdown drills with anxious children. In addition, these drills are especially difficult for children on the Autism Spectrum and with other special needs. The bottom line is this: every aspect of a realistic lockdown drill has negative implications for children. It is unnecessary to scare someone to get them to behave in the right way. My book helps students behave in the right way, without frightening them.

What is one thing you would like to say to teachers, administrators and parents about lockdown drills?

I would like to say this: please reassess how we practice lockdown drills with our children. Children of all ages feel the stress associated with lockdown drills and that stress can have long-lasting effects. There’s a reason a whole generation of adults can quickly recall the fear of hiding under their desks during the Cold War: because it traumatized them. Let’s take what we know about the development of children, the children who already are suffering from anxiety or ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and show leadership and compassion in dealing with lockdown drills. The Elephant in the Room: A Lockdown Story can solve the problem of the trauma lockdown drills cause in young children. It has worked for me for many years and I know it can work for young students everywhere!