Students covered in fake blood volunteered to be victims last month in an annual active shooter drill at Willows High School. For many schools, this is just a routine part of the curriculum.
The annual drill at Willows provides training to first responders on the tactics needed to effectively work as a team when responding to a mass casualty incident, according to the sheriff’s department.
Chico Unified School District does not currently have its own version of this drill, but it is something that may be in the works, assistant superintendent Jim Hanlon said.
“We have had some preliminary conversations,” he said. “We have been in contact with Chico PD, and that is something that might happen during the summer.”
Procedures known as “code red” and “code yellow” drills are something that Chico schools do practice about every other month, according to Hanlon.
Code red drills are regarded as more serious. Teachers will communicate with a notification system known as Catapult EMS.
“Teachers can actually take roll on their phone,” Hanlon said. “We’ll know which students are missing.”
During code red drills, students are not immediately notified that a drill is, in fact, taking place. Parents are notified, however, via an automated call.
“We want them to be able to practice it as if it’s real,” Hanlon said. “we want them to take it seriously.”
In addition to routine drills, schools have been taking preventative measures.
Superintendent of the Glenn County Office of Education Tracey Quarne stressed the importance of preventing such incidents. He explained that Willows High and other schools in Glenn County use a Systemwide Mental Assessment Response Team (SMART) to assess potential issues before they escalate.
SMART is ultimately concerned with students who are known to have serious mental health issues.
“Can I guarantee it will be 100 percent all of the time? No, nobody can,” Quarne said. But the important thing, he stresses, is that they take action early.
“Somebody knew it was going to happen,” he said, in reference to the shootings at Columbine High School and Sandy Hook Elementary School.
“If you get to the point where there is an active shooter on campus, you’ve already lost,” he said.
-- Katie Morris