How Catholic Schools Can Prepare for an Active Shooting
How Catholic schools prepare for an active shooting can be the difference between life or death, as administrators try to adjust. Catholic schools face the sad reality that they must practice an active shooting situation. An active shooter situation is every administrator’s worst nightmare. If you are in a leadership position at a Catholic school, you might assume that your school is an unlikely target, but the opposite may be true. Catholic schools have unfortunately dealt with this issue as much as other public schools. Likewise, they needed to adapt to everchanging circumstances.
To fulfill your duty of protection to students, you must create a Catholic school active shooter preparation plan. If a crisis occurs, simply being prepared can help minimize losses and create a framework to manage the situation.
Catholic School Preparations
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Create a Safety Planning Team
The first step to preparing your school for an active shooter is creating a team responsible for safety. This team should consist of a diverse group of members, including clergy, school staff, parishioners, and emergency responders. Depending on the age of the students in your school, you may even be able to include senior students on the safety team. Designate responsibilities for each member. Contacting local police would help, as it could establish communication guides. Your school needs to have crystal clear communication with local authorities so everyone knows what to do.
Regularly Hold Safety Meetings
With a safety team in place, you need to hold regular safety meetings to ensure you’re ready to address a crisis. These meetings should rely on a clear agenda, and a skilled leader facilitator should host. Consider a schedule that identifies a potential safety risk, discusses possible responses, and develops a plan for implementing a solution. This format can ensure that meetings are efficient and effective. An appointment should not be any longer than an hour long. Additionally, you could hold it quarterly or biannually.
Implement a Notification System
One of the biggest threats in an active shooter situation — or any safety crisis — is a lack of widespread communication throughout the school. If there is an immediate threat, but half the school is unaware, they are in grave danger because they cannot prepare or protect themselves. It’s imperative, then, that you implement a schoolwide notification system that can alert all school leaders, teachers, and administrators to any crisis.
Test Preparedness With Drills
Having an active shooter drill may sound morbid, but it can improve your overall preparedness for such a situation. You don’t have to reenact a shooter situation with accurate details, but you should recreate a crisis and ensure that your school is prepared to respond. It may include simulating a lockdown and providing that teachers can receive emergency notifications. As many critics have noted, it’s essential to ensure that these drills focus on safety — not shock value. Rather than trying to scare students and staff, you should try to equip and empower them. Thus, establishing a safe environment is essential to ensuring that everyone knows what to do, and feels content.
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