PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend School District teachers, administrators and support staff watched a video Wednesday afternoon showing an active shooter situation that took place at North Thurston High School in 2015.
The video put together interviews of students, faculty and Lacey Police describing and event in which a student fired a gun in the school. The student was tackled from behind by a quick-thinking teacher. No one was injured.
At the end of the presentation, police officer Jeremy Vergin said the video was quite relevant.
“The student attempted to enroll here at Port Townsend High School two months before this incident,” he said to the stunned audience.
The presentation was part of the system-wide ALICE Institute Training being done by Port Townsend Schools Resource Officer Jeremy Vergin; along with Carrie Ehrhardt, high school principal; Pat Gaffney, high school dean of students; and Justin Gray, district safety coordinator.
ALICE is an acronym: Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. It is a national training model specifically designed to prepare for an active shooter by demonstrating the proper response to this type of threat.
Superintendent John Polm said the program was important for the district.
“The training is a useful strategy. It increases awareness and alertness during any emergency situation,” Polm said. “We want everyone to feel more secure.”
Vergin, a trained instructor for the program, said the entire district will go through the program.
“This is the first time we have the entire school district together to go over the ALICE Institute Training,” Vergin said.
“The Port Townsend School District became agency-certified at the beginning of the year,” he said. “Some staff became instructor-certified. Most have taken the on-line training component of this program so they have the basic fundamental concepts and principles of the ALICE model.
“It’s active shooter response, but it’s also for any type of active, aggressive person. It’s emergency response planning.”
Vegin noted that in active shooter situations, “non-professionals are the ones that are there, at that critical moment.
“This is not exclusive to schools, but are life-saving concepts that apply to every situation. We’ve seen active shooter incidents in every setting that you can think of, from concerts to shopping malls to houses of worship and educational settings.
“We know these things happen in a wide variety of settings, so all these principles and concepts from the ALICE Institute apply.”
Vergin said that the training is the next step in the process. Ongoing education is planned.
“We’ll have site-specific training for teachers and staff that apply to their particular buildings which will expand on the concepts presented today,” he said.
Vergin said that students will be taught the fundamentals of the program early next year.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Jeannie McMacken can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jmcmacken@peninsuladailynews.com.
