Teachers Taught How to React During a School Shooting Scenario
Educators from school districts across Oakland County, including Birmingham, attended a large-scale active shooter training session in Waterford today.
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BIRMINGHAM, MI -- Run, hide or fight.
Those three actions may save your life in an active shooter situation similar to December’s shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CN, according to Oakland County Homeland Division officials.
About 85 Oakland County school administrators, teachers and school staff — including more than a dozen from Birmingham — focused on the kind decisions one may have to make in an active shooter situation during a 2-hour training session at the Executive Office Building in Waterford Thursday.
The important takeaway — react quickly.
Teachers were told to have an evacuation plan prepared and as a first action to flee a bad situation, bringing their students with them, but only if it’s safe to do so. If it is not safe, the next step is to hide, preferably behind something that is made of metal, concrete or block. And, if all else fails, as a last resort, fight.
“If you can’t escape or run, then throw a table, swing a purse, throw a fire extinguisher,” said Homeland Security Specialist Michael Loper. “Commit 110 percent with anything you can get your hands on.”
Statistics show 43 percent of active shooters will take their own life. They come prepared to die, Loper said, not prepared to fight.
Teachers were also told what to expect and how to react to first responders:
- Avoid pointing, screaming, yelling.
- Do not ask officers for help or directions.
- Evacuate with hands up and fingers open. Officers arriving are in a high stress situation—they are in hunter mode—and even a cellphone in your hand can look like a weapon, officials said.
In addition to helping school districts prepare an action plan, Homeland Security is also working with law enforcement across the county on unified response plan, Loper said.
“If an event happened at Royal Oak High School, and Berkley and Troy police were called in to help, we want everyone to be on the same page, regardless of what department they belong to,” said Loper.
"We’re a consortium. We’re not little kingdoms anymore,” as one official put it.
In total, around 18 teachers and staff from Birmingham Public Schools attended the active shooter session, Birmingham Superintendent Daniel Nerad said earlier this month.
wllharrington
12:55 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
Of the three options, only the thiird has any merit but throwing a fire extinguisher, purs, table or any other obect is futile. The only way to fight back effectively is with a gun. Teachers, administrators and other school personnel shouild be trained in the use of guns. Look at Sandy Hook, if someone had shot back there would have been fewer deaths. In such a situation there would most likely be casualties but the number would be significantly reduced.
Cindy Halpern
4:36 pm on Saturday, January 26, 2013
UNfortunately, every shooter is different.
In Newtown, one teacher was able to lock a door and the killer moved on. In other cases, the killer might have shot through the door until it opened.
Panic buttons and panic rooms maybe a good idea.
wllharrington
5:46 pm on Saturday, January 26, 2013
Throwing fire extinguishers(which can weigh 25 lbs), throwing a purse, throwing a table these are great if you are a weight lifter(except for the purse) but not one of those items is going to stop a bullet. There is no mention that a teacher or other school person with a gun has a better chance of stopping someone with a gun. If someone at Sandy Hook had shot back there would not have been the massacre there. Yes some children may have been hurt or killed but not all of them.
desertrose
9:53 pm on Saturday, January 26, 2013
If there is a fire extinguisher, why not spray it at the gunman first - go for the eyes. I also think teachers could, with a lot of caution, have wasp spray or high distance pepper spray. Both of those can temporarily blind an attacker from over twenty feet away. They would need to somehow be out of reach of children, but still where a teacher can get it. I think those would be safer than having teachers toting guns. I don't object to trained armed guards, but teachers have too much chaos to deal with, to keep a gun safe.