Dear WUSD Community:

We are reaching out today to announce something we feel is extremely important, and we hope you will agree. On November 15, 2025 we will be holding “The Big Drill.” This event will be held in conjunction with our partners in law enforcement, EMS/Fire, and the Town of Windsor and it will allow all of us to practice the worst case scenario — a school shooting.

While specifics will not be shared publicly in order to create realism, here is what you should know: there will be authentic law enforcement response to a shooter on campus, there will be victims and associated EMS/Fire response, there will be emergency support from the town, and there will be transport of students to an offsite location for the full request reunion process. 

While this is all important information to share, we are reaching out because we are hoping you: our students, staff, and families will want to be a part of this event. We will have numerous volunteer opportunities, and truthfully, the success of this will rely on those volunteers. The drill will take place at Cali Calmecac Language Academy, and will take most of the day (we are thinking 9am to 5pm, though we will have a more exact time frame as we get closer, and not all volunteer roles will potentially require the full day). We will provide food and drinks for all participants.  

Here is what we need:

• Parents:  

  • We need parents to volunteer as parents, who will travel to the request reunion site and go through the process of being reunified with your child (it may be your actual child, or we may assign you a child so that parents of all grade levels can participate). 

  • Depending on the volume of response, we may also ask some parents to attempt to get to/on the school site during the emergency so that our first responders can practice managing that situation. 

  • We also need parent observers, who will not be directly part of the scenario, but observe various parts of it and provide feedback on those observations to help us improve our safety plans and procedures. 

  • There will be a debrief survey for all participants after the fact that you will need to commit to filling out. 

• Students:

  • We need students who will be playing students (some will be playing a younger student than their actual age, others will be playing themselves). Full disclosure, there will be some students who will be victims, and will be acting accordingly. Others will practice lock down, being evacuated by law enforcement, and going through the request reunion process off site. 

  • Please know that due to the realistic nature of the drill, we think it is best suited for students in grades 9-12. If you are a parent of a younger student and feel strongly about them participating, consider being an observer and having your student(s) observe with you. 

  • There will be a debrief survey for all participants after the fact that you will need to commit to filling out. 

• Staff:

  • We need staff members to volunteer for three potential roles: on-site staff who will go through the drill, lockdown, etc., staff at the off-site location to facilitate request reunion, and staff observers. 

  • On site staff will practice lockdown, keeping students safe, and travel with them via bus to the request reunion location. 

  • Request reunion staff will set up at the remote location, and be assigned roles and duties according to the Standard Reunification Method (don’t worry, you’ll get info and training ahead of time).

  • We also need staff observers, who will not be directly part of the scenario, but observe various parts of it and provide feedback on those observations to help us improve our safety plans and procedures. 

  • There will be a debrief survey for all participants after the fact that you will need to commit to filling out. 

  • As of now, this is a volunteer, not mandatory, activity. It is not paid. 

Let us be clear, this drill will be as real world as we can manage. There will be simulated gun shots, noise, smoke, panic, there will be victims who are wounded, there will be police and fire and EMT personnel. There will be yelling and orders and bus rides. There will be victims who do not make it, and staff whose job it will be to break that news to a family member. If you have ever seen the anti-impaired driving program Every 15 Minutes, that is the level of realism we are aiming for. We say this not to (hopefully) scare anyone away, but because we want everyone to be clear about the expectations and experiences on the day. 

This drill is extremely important, and will also be extremely difficult. While we hope to never need any of the skills we aim to practice, we all know that it would be foolhardy to think it could never happen here. This is an opportunity for all of us — the school district and its staff, our law enforcement, first responders and town, and our families and community — to ensure that should the unthinkable happen, we are all as prepared as we can possibly be. 

Below, you will find links to sign ups for this event. As this is a new undertaking, it is hard to predict the level of volunteering we will receive, so we may close things at a certain point, or we may be begging for additional support. If you have questions please reach out to Pete Sullivan (psullivan@wusd.org) or Heather Bailey (hbailey@wusd.org). They are the co-chairs of our District Safety Committee, and are the lead organizers of this event. 

Parent Volunteers: https://forms.gle/fi4KWkoxuvsctXFr8

Student Volunteers: https://forms.gle/hJ3uoNkYszqAMfWD6

Staff Volunteers: https://forms.gle/bUDzW2Dfb3Da7VsK8

Thank you in advance for being a part of this incredibly important event. 

Your WUSD team