Most Americans say schools should do active shooter drills, but disagree on approach

Americans agree students should be prepared for school shootings, but a new NPR/Ipsos poll finds they differ in how to approach the issue.

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

An overwhelming majority of Americans say children should have active shooter drills in schools, but a new NPR Ipsos poll finds that how to conduct those drills and what safety measures schools should invest in is divisive. NPR’s Sequoia Carrillo reports.

SEQUOIA CARRILLO, BYLINE: Both parents and the general public at large agree gun violence is one of the top concerns around K-12 education. But our NPR Ipsos poll also finds that depending on who you ask, you’ll get different answers on how to approach the problem.

MALLORY NEWALL: You see this really deep partisan divide that has sort of crystallized here…

CARRILLO: That’s Mallory Newall, vice president at Ipsos.

NEWALL: …On the type of investment and the type of priority that we should have when it comes to school safety.

CARRILLO: The poll looked at three different measures to keep children safe in schools – social and emotional measures, security measures and training measures. People in the poll who identified as Democrats are more inclined than Republicans to support investing in social and emotional measures like guidance counselors, anti-bullying campaigns and increased mental health education over expanded security measures. And the difference is big – 65% to 38%. Republicans strongly favored expanded security measures like metal detectors, bulletproof glass or clear backpacks over social and emotional measures.

NEWALL: But it goes beyond that. There’s actually a little bit of a partisan difference when it comes to the type of active shooter drill that they support in schools.

CARRILLO: And an overwhelming majority of Americans, 88%, support basic lockdown procedures. But differences start to come up when it comes to how to conduct these drills. In some schools, administrators go for a very realistic…