School shootings are in the news again, and they are unbelievable and incomprehensable tragedies for the victims, students, families and communities. Indeed, when something like what happened in Minnesota in March happens on a public school campus, it's a tragedy for our nation.

With open lines of communication though, many such incidents are avoided when kids take the responsibility to go to authorities and alert them to such plans. This is a good thing, and the reality is that last year there were 3,000 gun-related deaths in the U.S. last year, but just 1 percent happened on school campuses.

This brings me to a concern I have about recent activities in Ventura, and I want your suggestions about what can or should be done in the future. According to an article in the April 2 Ventura County Star, Ventura School Officials decided recently to have "lockdown drills" at high school and middle school campuses. Ordinarily these drills are begun with a bell ringing or some other alarm.

The Ventura drills started with gunfire, coming from guns on campus, and adminstrators firing them with blanks. Um... YIKES!

Needless to say, kids were scared by the gunfire, made to feel uncomfortable - Many even ran. A police officer across the street from one of the campuses even heard the gunfire and saw kids running. This officer did not know about the drill!

Is this kind of drill, with blanks being fired, really necessary? Helping kids to understand the situation and what to do in the event of an emergency is one thing, but simulating an emergency with faux gunfire is quite another.

When traveling, we're taught before the place takes off how to get out, or what to do in the event of an emergency. They don't simulate crashing the plane just to make sure we're paying attention!

Ojai Superintendent Tim Baird said it best:

"We would never simulate something like that," Baird said. "You don't practice a fire drill in a crowded room by screaming, 'fire.' ... It needs to be real ... but you don't want panic."

Right....

What say you?