The crackdown on lockdowns

The usual chatter of a high school hallway has been replaced by a deafening silence. Nobody moves or speaks for fear that, by doing so, they’ll lose their life. What they don’t know, however, is whether or not the threat has merit, or if this lockdown is the result of another student making empty threats.

Ever since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, safety procedures in schools across America have been implemented. Each school follows the same procedure– lights off, blinds shut, doors locked, and voices off. Students sit in dark corners as administrators patrol hallways and round up missing students. During the 2025-2026 school year, however, students have been doing more than just ‘practicing’ for a what-if scenario– these alleged drills have been real lockdowns. Rycoh Ruiz, a Riverside sophomore, recalls the first semester of this school year.

“In Quarter 1 it wasn’t bad,” Ruiz shared. “But then came Quarter 2. Near the end it started getting bad, there were at least 2 lockdowns [each week] for two weeks in a row. One week it was even 3 or 4 lockdowns. Every lockdown took over an hour and it was miserable.”

Riverside’s frequent lockdowns have been a topic of conversation amongst the student body, but these aren’t isolated incidents. DSA freshman Carson Phan sheds light on these other instances. 

“Some of my best friends and family members go to other DPS schools such as Jordan,” Phan shared. “Lockdowns are gradually getting more and more frequent at other schools and a threat about a kid with a weapon is unsurprisingly common.”

The experiences of kids affected has been blasted all over social media, kids posting Instagram stories about the intense fear they feel on a daily basis.

“Some friends I knew cried after the first lockdown,” Ruiz admitted. “Others switched schools and others wanted to switch schools too.”

Although most of the lockdowns ended with no real threat posed to student safety, the fear within the student body was, in fact, real, for not only the students involved, but also their best friends and parents.

“I've had to have a meltdown and cry at school multiple times because of these lockdowns at other schools,” Phan admitted. “They threaten the safety of the people I love, and I can't even do anything about it. I can't be with them when they're afraid, the only thing I could do is send texts. I feel scared every day that it will be either my or my best friends' last day coming into school.”

The lockdowns have lessened in frequency, and students are back to their normal routines, but there’s still a sense of unease amongst the students. Durham Public Schools has not come out and said anything about tightening up student safety procedures since lockdowns have become more frequent.

“I feel like DPS doesn't put in enough effort at all to prioritize our safety instead of irrelevant stuff to distract us,” Phan remarked. “How is taking away phones and ‘reinforcing’ the same policy over and over again going to benefit us in any way in case of an emergency?”