School Shooting Preparedness

11/27/2021

Earlier this year, on 6 May, a 6th grade student opened gunfire within Rigby Middle School. Multiple rounds were fired and three people were injured--two students and a custodian. Jefferson School District Superintendent Chad Martin told reporters, "This is the worst nightmare a school district could ever face. We prepare for it, but you're never truly prepared." The debate surrounding gun control has been prevalent in our society as school shootings, community attacks, and gang violence continue to exist in our nation. It is easy to judge these tragedies from miles and miles away, disregarding their severity because of the distance between us and the crime. However, Rigby, Idaho is only 170 miles away from our school. Rigby, just like Salmon, is a small town where many assume invincibility from these sort of "city" incidents. Would Salmon High School be prepared for a school shooter? Although Chad Martin explained that it is impossible to be truly prepared for such an event, are there actions that our school could be taking to inform students and staff on what to do if this were to ever happen? Is SJSHS under-informed on the topic of school shootings? Would an increase in national gun control be the solution to these tragic happenings?

I believe that strict gun control will not cease the existence of shootings and violence similar to such. Because of this, schools should make it a priority to inform and train their students and staff on what to do if a school shooting/lockdown/attack were to take place. We practice fire drills regularly, despite the complaints of students, because tragedies are unpredictable. Practicing fire drills does not guarantee our safety in the case of a real fire, but they do allow us a basic idea of how to escape. Salmon, Idaho is probably an unlikely place for a school shooting to occur, however, nobody can say that with certainty. I believe that SJSHS is currently under-informed on this topic, and a school shooting would be detrimental to those without any knowledge on how to address such a situation. Because of the unknown, teachers and students should participate in trainings for how to handle the possibility of a school shooter. Being prepared causes no harm and could potentially save the lives of many.

41 Comments

Boaz Oswald

11/28/2021 12:22:53 pm

I do not think that there is more that can be done. Students, if they choose to not take drills seriously, which is the most common response, will not learn or think about how they would actually react in a situation such as a school shooting. The only preparedness that such a student body has is the knowledge to hide and take cover. The only advantage that a student who learns has is the knowledge of where is the best place to take the same actions, hide and take cover. What else is there for a student to do? Perhaps coordinate an ambush as the shooter walks into a specific part of the school… that the person may or may not go through? Any expectation for children greater than hiding is whimsical. Administrations might have the power to mitigate the damages of such an event but situations are extremely specialized and fluid. Most decisions will be made on instinct. I am sure that teachers and staff go through some amount of education that lay a base for these decisions and that is likely the only impactful training that one can have.

Micah Tolman

11/28/2021 01:43:25 pm

When I went to school in West Jefferson, I was a witness to your statement; most of the kids treated the drill
without seriousness because they knew it was not real. When I imagine a school shooting scenario, it is easy to think I would be a heroic figure who would grab something from a classroom and take out the criminal, but during an actual case, I would probably be frozen in fear. It is scary to think of the damage which could be done to our school in athe emergency of an active shooter.

Janessa

11/28/2021 06:47:20 pm

Students disregard the seriousness of shootings beyond drills. Video of actual shootings taken by students during the event spread like wildfire online, especially on the popular platform TikTok. These videos are often live videos as well. Though there may be use for these videos for law enforcement to gain specific details, I don't think my first instinct during a shooting would be to pull out my phone.

Jonah

11/28/2021 01:49:04 pm

When we talk about school shootings, I don’t really think that gun control is the issue. I think sometimes school shootings come from members within the school system. So I don’t know if shooting preparation drills would be of benefit, or if it would be giving these future shooters more of a blueprint to follow. There is kind of this joke about how the weird “quiet kid” would be the one to do it, pull a gun out of his backpack and light the place up. So I think the best way to prevent a school shooting is just be nicer to the quiet kid(s). Salmon, like Rigby, has “portables” separate from the main building. This is where the shooting occurred I believe the article said. I feel as though such an area makes an easy target. The school officer is probably minutes away as far as response time goes. Our portables are right off the highway, as Rigby’s are. That’s just one of the reasons why portables are dumb.

Adyson

11/28/2021 02:20:11 pm

I agree one hundred percent that portables are a huge danger to school safety. Someone could theoretically shoot the entire class and nobody would know.

Courtney Vennell

11/28/2021 05:06:37 pm

I also agree with you that portables are very dangerous because they are apart from the main building and anyone could just walk in and the students would be in danger.

Micah Tolman

11/28/2021 01:50:11 pm

This is a great topic Hailey because it is relevant to our nation’s current events. I believe a shooter in Salmon could do a lot of damage, especially if targeting the two portables outside the high school or elementary school. The police station is far enough away that by the time the police arrived, disaster could have been wrought. I believe Salmon is small enough and isolated enough that a shooting is something we won’t need to fear. I do think shooting drills are helpful, and if kids don’t take them seriously then it is their own fault if they get hurt in a shooting. I do not know much about gun control, but I do believe it could be stricter.

Adyson

11/28/2021 02:21:58 pm

I like the point that you brought up about how if kids don’t take a school shooting drill seriously then it truly is there fault if they get hurt. However that could also impose a threat to other students who are prepared.

Dakota James

11/28/2021 03:00:44 pm

I don't know how effective school shooting drills would be either, considering the shooter is probably one of the students in class. However, I am grateful that we have a school police officer on campus to help counter an event like this. I also do not expect a shooting to occur at our school, but then again, no body expected it in Rigby. When does anyone really expect something like that to happen?

Adyson

11/28/2021 02:18:11 pm

Throughout my elementary and middle school years I was involved in many practice and real lockdowns at school. Our teachers made sure that every month we would practice exactly what we would do in case of an emergency such as that. The week before I came to Salmon I was attending Declo Middle School, that week in particular we had 3 real lockdowns due to threats to shoot up the school. I can tell you that it was one of the scariest things I have ever experienced and I think it is incredibly important that people are aware and prepared if they were to ever be in that situation. I think that SJSHS is dramatically unaware of the danger and realness that school shootings can happen at any school no matter how small or rural.

Micah Tolman

11/28/2021 04:15:09 pm

It is scary to not be informed on what is actually going on. School shootings might be especially difficult for young children to experience. I do not think there is a school cop at the elementary school in Salmom, so they are at extra risk.

Ele

11/28/2021 05:46:35 pm

3 lockdowns? That’s crazy! Yes, I agree, and many people in practice situations do not them seriously which is scary. We really do not understand how dangerous and real school shootings are unless one has experienced it.

Robyn Chaffin

11/28/2021 07:37:40 pm

I definitely have noticed that Salmon school districts has had the least amount of drills compared to all of the other school districts I’ve been to. There was a shooting at a high school near the elementary I attended in Nebraska and I don’t remember having much practice in the drill but the teachers handled everything really well.

Robyn Chaffin

11/28/2021 02:36:20 pm

The last school I was attending, Chinook High School, started teaching new safety programs. Last year, all of the teachers were required to attend a gun safety seminar. Teaching them the do’s and do not’s of a dangerous situation. The entire district started teaching a different lockdown drill as well, called an ALICE drill. Alice standing for alert, lockdown, inform, counter, evacuate. First they taught students to lockdown and block doors with tables and chairs. Then grabbing anything in reach and being prepared to fight back. Some would disagree with asking children to fight against a person with a gun, but certain things need to be done.

Dakota James

11/28/2021 02:56:45 pm

I think what is necessary to survive in an encounter like this should be taught to the students and teachers. Hiding behind a door is not likely to prevent the attacker from breaking in and causing harm. Also, I don't think it is a bad idea for teachers to be armed in their classrooms after attending a seminar concerning gun defense safety.

Courtney Vennell

11/28/2021 05:09:02 pm

I 100% agree that students need to be taught what to do in a situation like that and I do believe that it is important for students to have some sort of weapon to defend themselves, even if that would be a pair of classroom scissors.

Kendra

11/28/2021 06:08:21 pm

It is important to realize that there is only so much that the schools can do to prepare for something like this. I like the example you used of a program that could be used on how to react to a situation, because it would be very hard to prevent it.

Hailey

11/28/2021 07:30:10 pm

Robyn Chaffin This safety procedure sounds very useful. I consider SJSHS unprepared and under-informed because I do not recall ever practicing something like the ALICE drill.

Boaz Oswald

11/28/2021 07:38:16 pm

Bringing out what you have experienced in the past actually changed my mind about how much a student can do. I suppose having a set process to follow, if nothing else, can ease the mind of those involved which can greatly improve decision making and is just a generally good thing.

Dakota James

11/28/2021 02:53:45 pm

I think we become complacent and content with the idea that we live in Salmon, Idaho and the likeliness of a school shooting is relatively low. Like Hailey said, this is no excuse to not prepare. I also believe there is something to be said about school shootings being rare in low populated country towns, because these towns generally have more gun owners. That said, it is not a gun control issue. Guns do not kill, people do. My pencil did not fail my test, I did. Furthermore, if a school shooter were to attack SJSHS, I am not so sure we would be ready for it. However it eases my mind that we have a school cop to protect us. Honestly it is still shocking that a shooting like this that we always hear about, happened in Rigby, Idaho. On my way back from baseball districts this past spring, I-15 was closed, causing us to take a detour and pass right by the Rigby middle school victim to the attack. Just passing the school knowing what happened was devastating. I could not imagine the worries of the young scared kids who continue to attend school there. Events like this will forever happen, as unfortunate as it is, humans are humans.

Ele

11/28/2021 05:41:33 pm

I also am glad that we have a school cop. It is crazy that something like this could happen at anytime.

Lizzie Nelson

11/28/2021 05:46:16 pm

It is hard to understand why another human could do this but it is something that is extremely real. We need to be prepared for it by running through drills and maybe even having assemblies to talk about it. We need to be doing everything possible to be prepared for the worst.

Robyn Chaffin

11/28/2021 06:46:02 pm

I don’t think that where a person lives has anything to do with it. Shootings can happen anywhere. I think that mental health needs to be addressed better than it is. Young children go through so much more than anyone can know and they need help guiding their feelings and emotions.

Courtney Vennell

11/28/2021 05:21:56 pm

I believe that lockdowns are something every school should take very seriously and make sure that the students and teachers are very educated and informed on what to do in case of an emergency. At my old school in Boise, we would have a lockdown drill once every semester and the teachers and staff made sure to talk about any updates or revisions to the lockdown procedures. I think that they did a really good job on keeping us informed and confident about what to do during a lockdown. While being in Salmon, I haven't heard anything about a lockdown drill or what a student should do in the event of something like that happening. This makes me super nervous for what would happen for the students and staff at SJSHS. I think that the school should work on better informing students on what to do because that could help out a lot if something like a school shooting were to happen.

Lizzie Nelson

11/28/2021 05:40:55 pm

I know that at some point we have had lockdowns but they were not taken seriously. It is hard to imagine that it could happen in Salmon but it is something that we must prepare for. I think we need to have lockdowns that are ran like a real scenario so that we are as prepared as we can possibly be if it were to happen.

Jonah

11/28/2021 09:17:04 pm

The fact that we practice fire drills so often makes me wonder how the odds of a fire and the odds of a shooting compare. I find it hard to believe that a fire occurs very much more than a shooting does these days in a school building. Especially where building codes are pretty strict.

Lizzie Nelson

11/28/2021 05:37:56 pm

On are way to our track meet on last year, we were informed of the shooting. It was crazy to believe that it had happened so close to us and that it was a 6th grade girl. I can not even begin to imagine that and the immense amount of things that girl had to be going through in order to think that was her only or best option. School shootings have only became more evident in our world today. However, I do believe that the shooting in Rigby may have been a much needed wake up call for smaller schools. I know that I don’t personally feel like this could possibly happen at our school but I never would have thought it would have happened in Rigby either. This may help us to possibly improve our knowledge on these kinds of events. I believe that we do need to be more informed and to go over drills that could happen. However, we will never be prepared for everything that could possibly happen but all we can do is hope for the best.

Boaz Oswald

11/28/2021 07:39:22 pm

Your last statement "all we can do is hope for the best" actually struck me pretty hard. I realized how important hope is in a situation like this. If everyone hoped that this situation would not come here to Salmon than it wouldn't happen. This is the first time I really internalized why we learn about events in the past and in the present, it is so that, collectively, we can hope.

Ele

11/28/2021 05:39:47 pm

School shootings is a topic that is very important, recently there has been many school shootings but none that have really impacted us. There has never been a school shooting in Salmon, Idaho. There had never been a school shooting in Rigby, Idaho either, until May of 2021. Every year there are step by step action plans that students and teachers take to help prepare for a situation like a shooting. Yes, we may practice and run through these protocols, though, I believe that no situation is the same. After hearing about the shooting at Rigby High School and reading about it, it is crazy how different it was from many other shootings. It impacted not only the students and teachers, but the community as a whole. If there were to be a shooting at our school, it would be definitely hard to comprehend what to do. The community we live in is very small so it is hard to think that something of this action would happen, but the world is getting even more crazy…

Kendra

11/28/2021 06:04:11 pm

It is extremely crazy how these situations keep happening. It’s hard to think of solutions because we can’t predict when these things might happen.

Nathan

11/28/2021 09:21:06 pm

I have not actually put much thought into how I would feel at school after I went through the a school shooting. I would definitely be much less comfortable and trusting.

Carson Mildon

11/29/2021 04:56:46 pm

I love how you added how a shooting could affect a smaller community differently. I agree that with a community like salmon, a shooting would devastate many more people than just the students, teachers, and parents.

Kendra

11/28/2021 06:02:40 pm

As much as someone thinks they might be prepared for a situation like this, it’s not really something that can be prepared for. Drills can be practiced and it can be taught. For the students to really be prepared they need to put in an effort for the training they are receiving. They will get as much out of the training as they put in. There are things that can be done to make the school harder to get into and more protected, but there isn’t much more that can be prepared for than that. This is just one of those situations that people have to hope doesn’t happen. Schools are doing what they can and parents should talk to their children about it too. If the school and parents are warning the students it might be taken more seriously.

Janessa

11/28/2021 07:00:00 pm

I agree with you, this type of situation is simply the kind that you have to hope to never be a part of. No one can say what is going to happen in the heat of the moment.

Hailey

11/28/2021 07:30:49 pm

Kendra, I agree with your point concerning the parents of students; they should have somewhat of a responsibility to teach their children how to react to unexpected situations. Especially if students were taught beginning at a young age, they would be much more informed on how to stay safe.

Carson Mildon

11/29/2021 04:55:05 pm

I agree that an event like this can not quite be prepared for. You can take steps and precautions to prevent an event however, I do not think a school is ever "prepared" for a school shooting

Janessa

11/28/2021 06:55:43 pm

The standard directions schools give students when dealing with active shooters is to hide. I recently saw an informational video on a shooting at a high school that used a diagram and colored dots to show the movements of the shooter and students and faculty. Though teachers moved the students to stand against adjacent walls to be as far out of sight and reach as possible, the shooter simply ducked into the individual classrooms. Even though schools tell us that shootings do not last very long, it doesn't take much time to run between classrooms with a gun. The shooter ended up killing 17 and injuring 50. Though this may be terrible to say, I believe the only chance for survival would be to try to make it outside and run, rather than becoming a sitting duck.

Nathan

11/28/2021 09:18:53 pm

I also do not like the idea of sitting and waiting. I would rather try and leave.

Nathan

11/28/2021 09:16:45 pm

I do not think that regulating gun control more heavily will solve the problem. It is not the gun that are the problem it is the mental health of the shooters. We need to spend our efforts with therapy and outreach for people instead of hunting down illegal guns. There will always be something to do harm to someone, our duty is to try and stop people from wanting to hurt each other.

Jonah

11/28/2021 09:22:20 pm

I agree. Mental health issues are more common than I think people realize, so it would be in the best interest to focus more on helping lessen the affects of those issues.

carson Mildon

11/29/2021 04:53:02 pm

I strongly believe that more gun control will not help the number of school shootings in our nation. In fact, I would argue that training and arming the teachers of schools would do much more to combat school shooters. If there were a couple of armed teachers on a school campus, they would have the chance to eliminate a threat way sooner than law enforcement could get there. But, since that is not the case in our school, I believe we are underprepared to handle a tragedy such as a school shooting.

School Shooting Preparedness

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