WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The Wausau School District reviewed written evaluations of the school’s active shooter drills at their meeting on Monday night.
It’s the second year for these kinds of drills at the district due to a school safety grant from the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Board President Jeff Leigh explains that the drills vary depending on the age of the students. “For the elementary schools it was mostly students being explained to them, this is an emergency situation and here’s how you would barricade the room or how you would evacuate. And of course, as we go up into the high schools, there’s more information shared.”
Leigh says there were some concerns from board members about the drills, but that students were allowed to opt out if needed. “We had some concern on the board though that some students could be adversely affected. And there were opt outs in place, but perhaps that could be better communicated and thought out a little more in advance by the families and staff members too.”
The active shooter drills are in conjunction with the ALICE training method. The method advocates for teachers to let students know they have choices in an emergency situation like an active shooter. Leigh explains the drills are to put that work into practice, not to terrify students.
“The intention isn’t to create a simulation so real that it traumatizes the students. But rather to empower them to understand that in a crisis that they have choices that they can make. And for them to have already thought a little bit though, but to know that they have agency, that they’re empowered to make some important decisions.”
He explains how the district will be using the written evaluations moving forward with active shooter drills. “But they’ll be figuring out internally what’s working best, what’s working not so well. And then figure out what to report out. And of course, you only want to report out what would be good for the community to know and not some things that could perhaps make the environment more dangerous.”
The reports will then be used by the district to more efficiently run active shooter drills in the future. The reports going forward will also be more detailed and broader in scope, as this year the system did not have enough time from the Wisconsin Department of Justice to put together more than brief written statements. The statements for this year will be submitted to the DOJ by the 1st of January 2019.
