Page 15 - Campus Security & Life Safety, March/April 2019

standard operating procedures in relation to fire alarms, drills, and other mandatory evacuations. Students and educators should be especially vigilant during evacuations and use their senses before evacuating blindly—can we see or smell smoke? Can we feel heat? Can we hear sounds of concern? Consider a policy that restricts immediate evacuation of classrooms upon the activation of a fire alarm until an emergency can be confirmed by administrative staff.
Common areas of concern are evacuation and rally points during a drill. Many schools have moved away from all-school evacuation points, recognizing the potential for a coordinated attack during an evacuation. Accordingly, many of these schools have adopted rally points either on or within walking distance of the campus. These rally points are intended to disperse the student population and mitigate casualties in the event of a premeditated attack. Alternatively, some schools utilize traditional all-school evacuation sites and rally points, depending on the emergency. This option is not sensible and can lead to confusion among students and staff during a real emergency.
A realistic and safe emergency response plan should avoid a rigid procedure for evacuations. In an emergency, students and staff should be encouraged to get to safety as quickly as possible, even if that means finding shelter in a neighbor’s house or nearby business. Undoubtedly, it will be difficult to account for students in the after- math of a violent incident, particularly if they do not neatly assemble at a rally point or evacuation site—and that’s ok. It’s far more impor- tant for students to be safe than for students to be accounted for. That being said, your school may temporarily lose control of the where- abouts of students, but you will never lose responsibility for them. Prepare for reconciliation with your staff, students, and law enforce- ment ahead of time and consider purchasing and implementing rec- onciliation technologies.
Appropriate Training
Because a dedicated attacker can bypass nearly every physical security measure, it’s imperative to train students and staff how to
respond to incidences of targeted school violence. Unfortunately, many trainers espouse hyper-realistic training methods that fright- en educators and students. Certainly, hyper-realistic training has its place (in law enforcement scenarios) but conducting these types of exercises with educators and students will create unnecessary anxiety and stress, which have been proven to inhibit retention of learned concepts.5 Educator-focused training should exclude sim- ulated gunfire, blood, and any students playing the role of injured or deceased students.
In addition to training staff, we must provide students with the skills necessary to survive a targeted attack. We train students how to survive fires and react to “strangers”—why should school violence be any different? Children, as young as kindergarten, have been trained to implement age-appropriate violence-mitigation strategies, includ- ing running, hiding, and overcoming an attacker by throwing items to create an environment of disruption. These strategies have been tested in elementary schools during real-world shooting incidents and have been proven to be successful.6 Ultimately, every student, teacher, and staff member of every school (regardless of age) should be equipped with appropriate violence survival skills and have these skills reinforced regularly via practical exercises.
What About Disabilities?
When creating any emergency response plan (including a plan for targeted school violence), it’s absolutely critical to provide options for staff and students with disabilities. For some, it may be impossible to run, hide, or fight. For persons with disabilities, preparation is para- mount. Students and staff should mentally script their response to a violent attacker and develop strategies before an incident occurs. Because certain disabilities require more accommodation than oth- ers. It is impossible to make blanket statements or suggestions; how- ever, we are responsible for the safety of all of our students and we must take the time to consider the equity and access needs of those who face physical, mental, or emotional challenges.
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