On Aug. 14, 2013, ASSE presented Emergency Management: Active Shooter in Public Schools, a webinar
addressing the process of preventing, preparing for, responding to and
recovering from active shooter situations in schools.
Speaker David J Akers III, a safety and occupational health
professional at Concurrent Technologies Corporation, began the webinar with
advice on developing a preparedness plan for active shooter scenarios. His
recommendations include the following:
- Form a team of individuals with various areas of expertise, including school staff and teachers, individuals from other schools within the school district and local law enforcement and first responders.
- Review and modify existing emergency plans to address the differences between active shooter situations and other scenarios that may require evacuation, such as fire.
- Implement appropriate notification plans, including procedures for notifying law enforcement during an emergency. A unique alarm should also be ready for use in an active shooter situation so that students and staff can be made aware of the threat instantly without any confusion regarding why an alarm is sounding.
- Include all staff members in emergency planning, not just teachers and administrative staff.
- Establish specific processes to follow during a catastrophic event.
- Determine procedures to follow for preventing entry of unauthorized individuals and objects into the school.
- Create an outline of evacuation routes. Be sure to define both a primary and secondary route so that the secondary route can be followed in case the shooter is located within the primary route. Review routes with all teachers and staff regularly and post maps of routes around the school, including a “You are Here” symbol.
- Draft policy statements with provisions for communicating with law enforcement, parents and the media during an emergency.
Akers pointed out a few other considerations that some
schools may need to address:
- Educational facilities at which after-school programs are held should prepare for the potential of an active shooter emergency during the late afternoon when children may still be present but some staff members may no longer be on-site.
- Ensure that evacuation routes and other emergency procedures address the needs of students with disabilities, if applicable.
- Communicate appropriate response strategies to parents and guardians. This may be especially important in rural areas where gun ownership is common and parents may impulsively rush to the scene with weapons in an attempt to fight off the shooter.