An unannounced active-threat drill at a Florida high school caused panic this week — and raised questions about how far authorities should go to try to protect children from school shootings.
The 2,800 students at Lake Brantley High School in Altamonte Springs, Florida, have been practicing "Code Red" drills since they were young. "You know when they come around and jiggle the classroom door handle that it's just a drill," 16-year-old Joseph Cirillo, a junior at Lake Brantley, told TODAY Parents.
But this week, an unannounced Code Red drill left students and teachers at the high school emotionally and physically shaken. Officials said it's a necessary practice to protect schools.
Just after 10 a.m. on Thursday morning, an administrator announced a Code Red on the school intercom. "This is not a drill," he added — something the students and their teachers had never heard before. "He sounded scared," said 16-year-old Lake Brantley junior Avery Brennan. "His voice was trembling."
Immediately, students said, their teachers jumped into action, locking classroom doors, shoving tables against the doors as barricades, turning off the lights and sending students to hide in closets or under their desks. At the same time, an ominous message was sent to teachers via email and text: "Active Shooter reported at Brantley/Building 1/Building 2/ and other buildings by B Shafer at 10:21:45. Initiate a Code Red Lockdown."
The message came from the Rave Panic Button app, an emergency notification system used in Seminole County schools to help first responders know about emergencies as quickly as possible. Teachers and staff can use the app on their phones to indicate different kinds of threats or emergencies at the schools.
The Seminole County Sheriff's Office initiated the drill, said Captain Rick Francis, the director of district safety and security for Seminole County Schools and a member of the Sheriff's Office. Francis confirmed to TODAY Parents that the staff member who activated the Rave app message did not know that the Code Red lockdown was a drill, and believed there was an actual threat on campus — the drill was designed that way on purpose.
The announcement that the lockdown was "not a drill" and the message from the Rave app led students and teachers to believe that they were in danger. Shocked teachers shared the message about an active shooter with their students and armed themselves with baseball bats and lacrosse sticks. Brennan said one of her classmates passed out briefly, and other parents and students reported students suffering asthma attacks or vomiting from fear. Some students began texting their parents, telling them "goodbye" and that they loved them just in case the worst happened.
A nearby private school for students with special needs and disabilities went on Code Yellow when Lake Brantley went on Code Red, unaware that Lake Brantley's situation was only a drill. Students at a nearby middle school who had siblings at the high school began crying in class as they believed there was an active shooter on their siblings' campus.
An automated alarm went off on every cell phone in the middle of the drill, adding to the panic: an alert that there was an unrelated 9-1-1 service outage in the area.
About 24 minutes after the drill began, an administrator made another announcement: The Code Red lockdown was over. The administrator ended the announcement with "Go Patriots," the school's code phrase to let students and staff know they were not speaking under force or duress. The students and faculty resumed their normal schedules, but still did not know that the morning's event had been a drill and not a real threat.
Shortly thereafter, an administrator made another announcement that the Code Red lockdown had been a successful drill. However, for students in the school's cafeteria, the announcement was garbled by the noise of the lunchroom and the audio equipment. The students said that some of them only heard the words "Code Red," and, with the school still on edge from the morning's drill, panic ensued.
Cirillo was in the cafeteria when it happened. "I saw hundreds of people start running and screaming, and people were getting stampeded trying to get out," he said. "I ran out and jumped two fences and ran into a random neighborhood." Cirillo, who left his lunch and backpack when he ran, saw media helicopters over his school and believed they were there because of an active threat.
Students reported injuries from the panic in the cafeteria, and special needs students were among those who fled the building.
Later, Lake Brantley's principal, Dr. Trent Daniel, posted an update on social media about the day's events that has since been deleted. Daniel was not on campus when the Code Red drill or the subsequent panic in the cafeteria occurred. She declined to comment for this story.
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