One of the trainings this year for me and my fellow teachers before the start of the school year was an active shooter training led by the Los Angeles School Police. In awake of Sandy Hook and several other school shootings, the police department made it a priority to educate teachers and other school personnel on what to do in such a dangerous situation. If you are a parent like I am, you want to be able to rest assure that your child is safe while at school and away from your presence throughout the day. While there is no way to guarantee safety, there are ways to make sure your child's school is prepared in case an active shooter is on campus.
1. Figure Out What’s Going On. Build Your
Awareness.-
The more a person knows about what’s going on, the better decisions the person will make. Knowing the location of the
active shooter is key in helping the child's school make a sound decision on what action to
take next.
2. Find A Way To Survive.- Studies have shown that
people who survived a life-threatening situation all had survival as their
focus. Instead of fearing being hurt, or
thinking that you don’t want to die, change your thoughts into the positive and
focus on Surviving.
3. Be Well Trained For Emergencies.- Having occasional drills for the staff to
know what to do in an active shooter situation, as strange as that may sound to a more "seasoned" population, can help better impact everyone.
Knowing where the exit and emergency doors are key?
4 4. Don’t Forget That You Can Leave The School.- In
times pass, teachers were told that they must stay on campus at all times and
cannot take kids off campus without parent permission. It was noted that
teachers sometimes try to hide and protect their students in the classroom in active shooter type situations and
become“sitting ducks”. Now
the police officers are spreading awareness that if one can, teachers may take the students
off campus to a safe location. Don’t
wait for the active shooter to “accidently” come across you. Leave.
5 5. If all fails, you may have to Fight Back. If you find yourself in the room
with an active shooter, don’t be afraid to collectively Fight Back. Yes, I was
surprise about this statement too, but police officers say that the victims
almost always in a school setting out-number the shooter. If the shooter is an “Active” shooter the
officers advised coming together to throw books, charge the gunman, spread out, do whatever one need. In a case where it is inedible that someone is going to get hurt, fighting back can possibly decreased
the number of injuries. (i.e. Think about the
passengers on the flight to Pennsylvania during 911 when they collectively took down
the terrorist.)
All and all, there is no way to guarantee
safety if there is an active shooter at your child’s school. I know that
everyday I teach my son to be a beacon of love as I hope that he will keep love
surrounding him. Perfect love casts out fear.
However, since this isn’t a perfect world, and we cannot ever be
completely safe, it is helpful to know what teachers, (like myself) are being
taught to protect children. I teach in a high school in South Central, Los Angeles and I know if the day ever comes where there is an active shooter, I pray that my inner-spirit guides me to keep every single child safe. Ultimately, “When in doubt,
trust your gut.” Allow your gut, that
infinite intelligence part of you to guide and protect you, your love ones, and
your community in a state of emergency.
Shira Dillon is a high school teacher and author of Sex, Drugs, and Other Elephants: How To Deal With Teenage Issues. A non-fiction book geared toward teenagers, teachers and parents about the honest reality of social issues that teenagers face and how to survive them. Order a book for yourself at amazon.com or purchase some for a gift.
