CHARLESTON, W. Va. –– New administrators in West Virginia schools gathered at the Charleston Marriott to learn how to plan for a situation they hope never comes about.
As part of the Principals’ Leadership Academy, 127 principals and assistant principals received training and the tools to develop a plan in active shooter scenarios.
“Hopefully, they’re learning how to make their school more safe and secure,” Brad Simmons, principal at East Hardy High School said. “You can’t teach students if they don’t feel safe. Staff can’t teach if they don’t feel safe and secure. That session is actually set up to be preventative and proactive.”
The session put on by the West Virginia Center for Professional Development invited members of the Charleston Police Department to relay analysis of school shootings and other active shooter scenarios around the world.
“I think that now we’re better informed than we ever were before,” Simmons said. “Years ago, when we actually first started developing different scenarios for crises within the schools, one of the things we did was shelter-in-place, lock your doors, hide. Now they’re shifting away from that.”
Experts suggest following a method of Avoid, Deny and Defend when faced with most active shooters in the school during the average three minutes it takes for police to respond.
Administrators are taught to avoid the shooter by having an exit plan and moving away from the threat as quickly as possible. If this is not possible, the next step is to deny by creating barriers to prevent or slow down a threat from getting to them, then remaining out of sight. Finally, the last resort is to defend themselves against a threat with aggressive, committed actions.
The sessions also allowed the administrators to share ideas with one another and develop plans based on what others have done.
“Some of the other things that they’re learning about is what other schools in other states, other areas, are doing to ensure the safety of their students,” Simmons said.
However, Simmons explained it comes down to an administrator’s responsibility to develop and prepare for a plan for their school.
“No one scenario is going to be covered by everything. We have to put our trust in the development of those principals, of those teacher that are actually on site and let them make the decision.”
The PLA played host to other session on Wednesday dealing with topics including cyberbullying and how to use data for school improvement.
This was the second of three sessions for the PLA. The final will be in Roanoke at the Stonewall Conference in April.