Sheriff’s Office providing schools with hands-on active shooter training
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office is offering hands-on training to help schools be as prepared as possible for active shooter situations.
It’s something teachers say they don’t want to think about, but it’s the sad reality they are faced with.
This week the Sheriff’s Office did their first hands-on training with Del Mar Elementary School staff.
“This whole thing is scary, we hate watching the training videos, we hate thinking about these things, but they are the reality in the World that we live in,” says Del Mar Elementary School Principal Marilyn Rockey.
Just a few weeks ago staff listened to an active shooter training presentation and this week they put that training to the test.
“You can sit in a classroom and be taught and sit in your chair and listen to the teacher give the instruction but until you actually do it and become repetitive I think it becomes second nature when an event does happen,” says Sgt. Shon Leonetti with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.
Rockey says the scenario based training helped staff think of things they wouldn’t have while sitting in the classroom, “each year we see a video and we sit there and we think of terrible situations that could happen, but we don’t practice it.”
She also says, “we’re really obligated to do this type of training so we are prepared. We hope nothing ever comes on our campus that is horrific, but we can’t guarantee that, what we can guarantee is our attitude towards it, and our ability to respond.”
Third grade teacher, Eric Jarmie has been teaching for close to 30 years. He says he never imagined having to train for this, but he feels better prepared after participating, “it got me to think very specifically about what i was going to do first, second, third and so on and now in my class we have a definite plan.”
The Sheriff’s Office offers these trainings free of charge to any school in the county, to get more information on how your child’s school can sign up, call (831)454-7683.
