Teachers, administrators and staff from the Columbia School District received training last week that could help save lives in the event of a school shooting.
Ricardo Clayton, chief of police from the Meridian Public School District and an instructor from the Mississippi Department of Homeland Security, taught two sessions of the class.
Clayton’s program did everything from define an active shooter event to instruct them how to respond if an incident takes place.
“Do what’s necessary to keep people alive – don’t hesitate,” he said. “The first thing you need to know is to call 911 and get help on the way.”
Clayton discussed a variety of tactics designed to keep casualties to a minimum in a situation that may involve a gunman, from locking classroom doors to quick responses in calling 911. He showed a film about a gunman in the workplace for the school personnel.
“School shootings are not new, despite what you may think,” he told the group. “The first school shooting was in the 1800s. Our hope is that it never happens at our school. It used to be that you wouldn’t think of somebody wanting to shoot at a church, a school or a hospital. Now, we have to be prepared for these incidents.”
Clayton said that of 179 shooting incidents from 2003 through 2014 the most shootings occurred in workplaces, followed by educational facilities. He stressed situational awareness, whether at home, school or shopping.
“I’m going to do everything I can to assure that when the parents send their children to school that they are coming back,” Clayton said. “I don’t want to tell somebody, ‘Your baby is not coming home.’ You need to develop the mindset that ‘I’m going home and my babies are going home.’”
After the presentation, Clayton spoke about his role and the importance of preparation.
“The biggest thing that we want to do is raise awareness to options,” he said. “There is no one size fits all answer, that’s what we want people to understand. We want to give them some options and some tools – some avenues that you could take in the event of a situation. Our hope is that we never have to deal with it. Our reality is that people have to deal with it.”
The program also talked about what might happen after an incident occurred.
“We want to cover all parts of it,” Clayton said. “Before, trying to deter as much as possible, but understanding there are options in the event it takes place. We are also concerned with after. You have to understand that it’s not quite over yet because if one person is hurt, everybody’s hurt. We have to look at it from the mental health standpoint.”
Clayton showed tips from a website, avoiddenydefend.org, and spoke of the importance of being prepared as much as possible to ensure safety.
