That's pretty close to "almost never happens" That works out the 33 a year, but there's something like 129,000 schools in the US. And when people talk about school shootings, they're typically talking about mass shootings, and there are even fewer of those (apparently 0.5 per year according to https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/153/4/e20230...).
And then there's the question of how a cell phone is actually supposed to help in such an emergency. If anything, I think it would be a liability.
As a parent that experienced such an event, my son having his phone let him message me that he and his class were literally running away into the woods and escaping the situation.
Obviously, knowing his class was ok was a huge relief, but also being able to talk to dad helped him calm down a bit.
Your link shows ~600 people injured or killed in school shootings, across every possible education level (from kindergarten to college) in the course of 24 years. (Both injured and killed, the number actually killed is more like a quarter to a third of that).
That's an average of 25 people killed or injured per year.
ANY school shooting, whether people are shot or injured or killed, or whether the shooter simply misses and nobody is struck, is extremely rare in the United States.
That is to say, it almost never happens.
The few incidents that do happen garner outsized media attention because they are unquestionably tragic. That repeated messaging makes them feel more common than they actually are.
For comparison, fatal car crashes on the way to or from school are FAR more common than school shootings (while still rare.)
It is very useful device, but sure- it doesn't block bullets. In a shooting it's mostly useful for contacting family and 911.
>"having access to a cellphone" did not alter the outcome at all in those tragic incidents
How could you possibly conclude that? Look at any timeline of a school shooting and there's often a lot of information going from 911 calls to inform the police on the number of shooters, the shooter's location, and where students are still alive/hiding. ex: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uvalde_school_shooting#Timelin...
As a parent that experienced this two years ago, I can confirm. Hearing about a threat at school, followed by shota.fired, and receiving a call from my fleeing child are those "life in slow motion" moments burned into my memory. It didn't alter the outcome, but it was very beneficial to everyone's mental state.
And then there's the question of how a cell phone is actually supposed to help in such an emergency. If anything, I think it would be a liability.