The Champaign Unit 4 Board of Education clarified how parents can opt their students out of active shooter drills during a meeting held Monday night. 

Champaign Unit 4 students will participate for the first time in active shooter drills this upcoming school year. The district is required under a new state law to involve students in the drills, and hold them within the first three months of the school year. 

A 2013 Illinois law mandated active shooter drills, but left it up to individual districts to decide whether to involve students. Last year, however, lawmakers passed a bill requiring all school staff and students to participate in an active shooter drill within the first 90 days of the school year.