Educators in Mississippi are learning what to do and what not to do if an active shooter is on campus. MPB's Ashley Norwood reports from a training session in Madison County.
More than 400 teachers and principals are learning how to protect themselves and their students from active shooters. The Civilian Response To Active Shooter Events is a multi-series training course sponsored by the Mississippi Department of Education and Mississippi Office of Homeland Security. Jim Brinson with Homeland Security is the trainer at this location in Madison. He says participants are learning three key principles.
"So, we're kind of helping them with speeding up their deliberation process on what to do to basically determine three principles. Can I avoid the threat? If I can't avoid the threat, can I deny the threat access to me? If I can't deny the threat access to me, what do I have to be able to defend myself," said Brinson.
Prior to the Parkland High shooting in Florida, Brinson says they've trained more than 1600 teachers in the state on how to respond in dangerous situations. Austin Brown is the Principal of Madison Central High School. This is his first training. The principal of more than 1,000 students says it's time to update the school's safety plans.
"The biggest thing for me as principal is what can we do to yes make sure that we got systems in place that are going to keep us safe, but also how we can empower students and how we can empower our faculty to be prepared to react to that type of situation," said Brown.
There are six training days left across the state. A link to register for the active shooting response training is available here. Ashley Norwood, MPB News.
