A three-day training dealing with a potential threat of a shooter concluded on Friday in Hardin.
All school buildings are secure and intruders can not get into the schools.
But if somebody were to get in, teachers and school staff have gone through special training that keeps them alert and aware, so that they will know what to do in the situation to keep everybody as safe as possible.
Dan White works in a Sheridan, Wyoming, school district as the junior high disciplinarian.
White’s district has used alert, lockdown, inform counter, and evaluate (ALICE) training for about seven years, and those trainers were in Hardin this week.
Sheridan students have received instruction through years of drills.
“Pre-planning with your students,” White said. “But students know how to react when they receive the instructions.”
Hardin High School teacher Tim Kaldahl has taken this training in the past and says the goal of ALICE is to evacuate. And if that can not be done, then look for other options.
“If it's not safe to leave, then what's the best way to make sure that whoever it is doesn't gain entry to the room if confronted by an active shooter,” Kaldahl said.
ALICE training teaches that moving targets and distractions can save lives, but this knowledge needs to be taught in advance.
Hardin Superintendent Tobin Navasio went through the training to also be able to train others working in the district with ALICE.
And he has already thought out the possibility if a shooter were in the high school.
“We would want to evacuate the middle school and the intermediate school instead of just sitting and having those kids wait in place,” Novasio said.
The preparation is about drills, practice and thinking about situations.
“We want to do everything that we can to keep them in school and keep learning and to feel safe,” said Pete Wizniewski, a teacher in Roberts.
“And so the more tools we have in our toolbox, the better off we're going to be,” Novasio said.
