Surprise School Shooting "Drill" in Oregon

[tommy610]

With teachers uninformed about it, the school decides to have a school shooting "drill" where masked men storm a meeting and start "shooting".

This was a stupid move. I've thought about this kind of thing at times, because my church does some off-the-wall-stuff occasionally.

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-no...f_fear_as.html

Gunfire and moments of fear as a rural Oregon school tests its readiness
Richard Cockle, The Oregonian By Richard Cockle, The Oregonian
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on April 29, 2013 at 7:54 PM, updated April 29, 2013 at 9:58 PM
HALFWAY -- Two masked men wearing hoodies and wielding handguns burst into the Pine Eagle Charter School in this tiny rural community on Friday. Students were at home for an in-service day, so the gunmen headed into a meeting room full of teachers and opened fire.
Someone figured out in a few seconds that the bullets were not drawing blood because they were blanks and the exercise was a drill, designed to test Pine Eagle's preparation for an assault by "active shooters" who were, in reality, members of the school staff. But those few seconds left everybody plenty scared.
Principal Cammie DeCastro said it became clear very quickly just how many of the school's 15 teachers would have survived. The answer: "Not many," she said.
Elementary teacher Morgan Gover, 31, said only two teachers would have lived to tell the tale. She admitted being scared, and also acknowledged she would have been among the casualties, having taken several fake direct hits from the shooters.
"I'll tell you, the whole situation was horrible," she said. "I got a couple in the front and a couple in the back."
The surprised staff had received training from the Union County Sheriff's Office on active shooter scenarios. They had been told they had some options, such as not rushing out of their classrooms when gunfire erupted, and locking and barricading their doors.
They weren't expecting a drill like this, and they were caught by surprise when the two men entered and began firing.
"There was some commotion," DeCastro said.
The goal of the drill was to learn how people would react, so better emergency plans could be made, she said.
It was a wake-up for many of the teachers.
"It was shocking," said elementary teacher Dollie Beck, 54.
Surprisingly, the drill made Beck aware that she would not have recognized the sounds of gunfire. "I would have blown it off as kids' sounds in the hall," she said.
The drill has since prompted her to keep her classroom door locked and to think of windows as escape routes, she said. But the biggest insight for her was the reminder that she is in charge of the youngsters in her classroom, and would have to remain calm in an emergency.
"Emotion begets emotion," she said.
Gover said before the drill, she was comfortable she had a plan to deal with such a situation. What she learned was, her plan wasn't much good. "It heightened my awareness about what's around me," she said.
Halfway, population 288, is the eastern Oregon ranching town that became world-famous 13 years ago as the globe's first "Internet city." The city council changed Halfway's name to Half.com in return for $73,000 from a Philadelphia-based Internet bazaar of the same name that sold books, CDs, movies and the like on-line at half price.
The town got its old name back a year later when the on-line bazaar was sold to eBay. Now Halfway is back in the real world, where people sometimes enter schools and open fire.
DeCastro has heard some criticisms of the drill from townsfolk, but is convinced it was valuable. "For us not to know how we were going to respond is leaving us open," she said.
Beck and Gover agree.
"I'm in charge of a pile of kids," said Gover. "It made me analyze as a teacher what my role is for these babies."
The district's Safety Committee and the School Board now will critically evaluate policies and procedures and decide what to do next, said DeCastro.
Armed teachers is one possible outcome, she said. Or the district may get armed and trained volunteers from the community to watch over the school in shifts, she said. Tougher doors and better locks are other options.
Gover said the teachers tend to favor having one or two armed teachers in the building at all times.
"We are so remote," Gover said, "we are going to have to take care of ourselves."
But thinking about active shooter scenarios is hard, she said.
"We are tender-hearted people who give hugs all day. We don't think like that."
-- Richard Cockle

© OregonLive.com. All rights reserved.

[BimmerJon]

Id retire and sue the school for traumatic stress

What idiots
Maybe for a fire drill they should throw some torches on the roof

[pennlineman]

Sounds like a good way to get someone hurt diving for cover or even a heart attack. Even worse, one of the "victims" being armed and returning fire. Not a good idea.

[Jim8300]

These idiots are lucky they did not end up with a chair slammed into their face. I would use anything I can get my hands on to fight and disable the shooter. Someone could have been injured just trying to escape the room.

[Jim8300]

What idiots
Maybe for a fire drill they should throw some torches on the roof

or a smoke machine filling the hallways, see who can get outside without an injury.

[Totez]

Looks like homeschooling for my kids when I have them.

Our drills will be part of basic education and they will be trained to fire back

[tommy610]

The thing that initially smelled funny here was the quotes from the teachers. They all seemed to be like "Wow, this really taught me something." Not a single one is saying "What were they thinking, pulling this?"

Some of the comments on the news site indicate that any teacher who was complaining about the event at all was not sought out for reaction. This, from someone who claims he knows some of those teachers.

So this could get interesting once those teachers start to take some action. There could be serious repercussions from this.

[bogey1]

Sounds familiar. Bostons bomb squad had a drill the same day as the marathon..Hmmmm.

[streaker69]

Hmm, it would seem these kinds of mock drills are bad. Anyone remember this? http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/15...ke-kidnapping/

Why aren't the ones involved in this one being charged with crimes?

[39flathead]

Wonder what would have happened if a parent had pulled into the school at the time and saw the goings on and had pulled their rifle or shotgun from their trunk?

This is totally idiotic.

It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt...