With the first day of classes right around the corner for most Tucson-area school districts, student and parents are sure to be stocking up on new school supplies and clothing.
For faculty members, however, the final weeks of summer means preparing for the worst — a school shooting.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department held an active shooter preparedness training Thursday morning at Flowing Wells Junior High School, 4545 N. La Cholla Blvd.
“The purpose is to make it as easy to understand as possible …. Threat assessment is key,” said Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos. “We’re hoping that these kinds of events will teach anybody that is staff at our schools that we’re here to help them, and that we need them as much as they need us.”
About 300 people across Pima County school districts signed up for training this summer, ranging from faculty and teachers, to student resource officers and even students, all acting out the scenarios.
Student actors, right, take action to stop a gunman during the Pima County Sheriff’s Department active shooter preparedness training at Flowing Wells Jr. High School on July 20.
“We will never judge you for what you did in that moment that there was a crisis, but we will give you opportunities to look at some options for you,” Nanos said. “We’re not here to critique them, we’re here to train them.”
One of these “active killer” scenarios began in a classroom just like any other school drill, with student-actors taking their seats and making conversation.
A student resource officer from Valencia Middle School played the part of the teacher, with the setup being that the class’s teacher is running late. While the scenarios are based on actual incidents, they only pull pieces from various events and do not fully recreate an actual incident.
The scenarios begin when the fire alarm goes off. Students are asked to remain calm and exit the classroom single-file, through campus outdoors and to the front of the school.
As they walk along the exterior of the building, suddenly an armed-and-masked gunman rushes out of a doorway, engaging the SRO and students. The SRO then engages the shooter and attempts to disarm him, while students begin to flee. In some scenarios, the SRO asked students to try to disarm the shooter.
“It’s a part of their training: run, hide or fight, so if they’re in a position where they cannot run and they cannot hide, barricade or find a point of cover, you’re going to be a casualty if you do not fight,” said Pima County Deputy Gordon Downing. “We’re trying to instill in these people to make that decision, give them a couple practice reps so that the decision making is sped up greatly and so that people aren’t freezing out of panic …. We want them to act.”
It’s no secret that incidents like the ones being recreated at Flowing Wells Junior High are highly politicized, to say the least. Some say it’s a gun control issue, some say it’s mental health; some would say schools need an increased police presence, while others may want to arm teachers.
For Lisa Murphy, an occupational therapy assistant and assistive technology technician for Flowing Wells Unified School District, the idea of guns in schools is not only wishful thinking, but also far too risky.
“Boy that would be nice if you could do that, but I think that there’s way too many risks of being disarmed,” Murphy said. “The mindset, I think, for most people, they’re not going to shoot to put somebody down …. You would have to be willing to take a life.”
“It’s a very sad statement for society that we even have to think about these things,” Nanos said. “I don’t have the answers, gun control or gun registration, I get frustrated …. We as a society need to figure this out, and I don’t know that we’re heading down the right path for that.”
Lisa Murphy, an occupational therapy assistant with the Flowing Wells Unified School District, talks about her experience taking the active shooter training and its importance for local educators.
