17 Aug EMBASSY CONSULTING SERVICES CONDUCTS ACTIVE SHOOTER TRAINING FOR IMPERIAL UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
There have been over 20 school shootings in the nation alone this year.
Today the Imperial Unified School District took necessary steps to make sure their teachers and educators know what to do when an active shooter is on campus.
“It was scary, but I, as a teacher was ready to say okay, I have to calm myself down. Think of how to calm the students down. So they don’t know that we’re in the classroom,” said Netty Ramirez, who’s been a teacher for over a decade.
Ramirez jumped into action to protect her students in an active shooter exercise.
Shane Millhollon, who’s trained law enforcement in active shooter exercises for over a decade says today’s training is also about using everything they learned from earlier presentations and putting it into use.
Millhollon said, “To identify, are we using good lockdown procedures. Are we secluding ourselves to where the shooter doesn’t see us? Are we getting to lock those doors in a timely manner?’ Cause when it comes down to a lockdown procedure, there’s a sequence of events that have to occur.”
One school official says preparation is vital to protecting students and teachers.
Roger Ruvalcaba, Assistant Superintendent Imperial Unified School District said, “Things that we see going on throughout the country, not only in our schools but in the community. And I think that’s what we want to do with this. We all feel comfortable knowing that it may not happen but if it does we’re a little better prepared in case something does happen.”
Dr. Heather Williams applauds the district for taking the initiative.
Williams, a trainer for Embassy Consulting said, “They aren’t living in denial. They are going to be prepared. And I feel like what starts off with faces of anxiety and concern, turns into discussions of empowerment and really resilience.”
Netty Ramirez says being prepared for this situation is needed.
Ramirez said, “We need it. We need this type of training. We need these presentations that help us to talk about it. To not be you know looking the other way. ‘Oh it’s never going to happen here.’It’s been very close to happening not just here but everywhere else. You see it on the news every single day.”
This article was originally posted at https://www.kyma.com/news/imperial-unified-school-district-educators-train-for-active-shooter-situations/782057591