Red Oak High School staff take part in active shooter training
Administrators at Red Oak High School received continuing training for active shooter situations March 7.
A special training session for staff was led by administrators Jeff Spotts and John Brabec, as well as Red Oak police chief Justin Rhamy, Montgomery County deputy sheriff Nate Elwood, and Red Oak fire chief John Bruce. After viewing a training video which highlighted the three responses to active shooting situations: run, hide, or fight, staff took part in a question/answer session with the emergency responders in attendance. Elwood said continuing education was key, because active shooting events are evolving.
“The student responsible for the active shooting situation in Parkland, Fla. pulled the fire alarm, started shooting, and then dropped his guns, put his hands up, and walked out with the rest of the students. Unfortunately, if something like that happens here, it will more than likely be one of the students. If anyone recognizes the student in that situation, that is very vital information that needs to be relayed on to 911 or an officer immediately. The quicker we can get the information the better,” Elwood said.
Rhamy said while the video viewed by the staff was informative, they needed to be prepared for panic.
“If something happened here, there would be a panic. Staff needs to be mentally prepared for a lot of frantic kids. The more you can work on gaining control of them, and keeping them under control, the better, especially if you’re in a situation when you are hiding from an active shooter,” said Rhamy.
One of the topics discussed in the video was setting up a first point to take students if fleeing from an active shooter, and a secondary point. Elwood said the secondary point should remain secret.
“Do not broadcast that secondary point. You can have an idea in your head, but don’t tell them in advance where you’re going. Due to the evolving shooting situations we’re witnessing, a student could pull a firearm, start shooting, then go to the secondary point where he knows everyone else will be, except for law enforcement, and start shooting again,” commented Elwood.
Bruce added to Elwood’s statement, saying active shooters are figuring out that secondary points are attack spots, because law enforcement officers are responding in force to the scene of the initial shooting, which can leave the secondary rendezvous points open to potential attacks.
Bruce said students needed to have a plan of their own with their parents for after they evacuated the building.
“That gets the students accounted for eventually, and it also keeps parents from coming directly to the school, because if a report of an active shooter comes over our radios, parents are going to be converging on the building, which will cause confusion and block emergency vehicles,” Bruce said.
As far as first responders, Bruce said if they arrive on-scene in an active shooting situation, the first priority is to locate the threat.
“If the first responders see a group of kids fleeing the scene, we’ll get a quick brief from them, then keep going. Don’t worry about barricading yourselves, we can get to you. But don’t leave a classroom until you absolutely know it’s safe,” said Bruce.
Bruce added that the students should be taught to run, and not get into their cars and drive off, as multiple people trying to flee the scene in their cars could cause accidents and make the situation worse.
Brabec encouraged administrators to take stock of their classrooms and look for items that could be used as potential weapons in an active shooting situation where running from the building was not a viable option.
Further discussions and training are scheduled for faculty in the near future to prepare staff for active shooter situations.