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MVCEAB To Press CCSD On Active Shooter Response Training

By VERNON ROBISON

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Valley Community Education Advisory Board (MVCEAB) resolved last week to push forward on a plan to provide teachers, administrators and other staff with an enhanced active shooter training. And they want to make it happen as soon as possible.

The board’s School Safety Committee gave a brief report before the board at a meeting held Friday, Sept. 13. During that report, local mom Rory Boss told board members about a program she had learned about called “Fight Back Nation.” This Utah-based program, taught by former Las Vegas Metro policeman Dave Acosta, focuses on preparing teachers for what to do in the case of an eye-to-eye encounter with a lone gunman.

“I was impressed that (the program) teaches that, in the first few minutes of an incident, it is really the teachers who are the first responders,” Boss said. “The program is designed to teach teachers how to hold on until law enforcement gets there.”
Clark County School District (CCSD) Emergency Manager Mike Wilson was in attendance at Friday’s meeting. Board members asked Wilson if this training could be presented as a “pilot” program to local teachers.

Wilson began by stating that, given the current financial situation at CCSD, it is unlikely that there would be funding for such a program.

But MVCEAB President Amy Mulcock stated that funding was the least of the obstacles.
“Trust me, in this matter money will not be a problem,” Mulcock said. “We will raise the money that is needed for this program. The bigger problem is to get the permission from CCSD to do this program and have it done in the classrooms at the schools where it will be most effective.”

Wilson also pointed out that the CCSD already has an intensive training program for school personnel that is administered currently. This program follows the acronym LIVE, which stands for Lockdown, Independently Evacuate, Vigilance and Evaluate.
Wilson said that the Fight Back Nation training could be classified as a subset of the final ‘Evaluate’ component of the LIVE program. This entails evaluating one’s options, he said.

“You are supposed to do anything you can to protect yourself or students from the threat,” Wilson said. “And, yes, that does include fighting. We train our teachers that they do have permission to fight back.”

But attendees at the meeting expressed concern that this may not be specific enough training in that component of the program.

“Our teachers are trained well on getting to a safe place, locking the door and barricading it,” said Boss. “But it seems they are less sure what to do if they actually come face to face with a shooter. That is a whole different thing.”

Mack Lyon Middle School principal Ken Paul agreed. “We know that we have permission to fight back,” he said. “But we don’t really know what that means or how to do it.”

Metro Resident Officer Corey Estes, who was in attendance at the meeting, suggested that the training program be presented to CCSD as a supplement to the existing program. “I wonder if it should be presented more as an addition to what CCSD already has going on,” Estes said. “Like, what do you do if you actually have to fight.”
Wilson agreed that this would be the best approach in presenting the program for CCSD approval.

“Then it would be viewed as something that fits into the current framework,” Wilson said. “It would come under that “Evaluate your Options” component in just giving more tools to teachers in these situations.”

Wilson advised board members of the process needed to receive approval for such a program. He explained that such a request would begin with the principals making a formal request to Associate Superintendent Grant Hanevold. That request would then be conveyed to the Deputy Superintendent and then presented before the full CCSD cabinet. Once it was fully vetted in all of the different department heads in that cabinet, it might be approved.

Wilson said that, if funding was not an issue, then the requests should definitely be sent up the chain of command to see if the program could be approved as a pilot program.

Mulcock expressed an urgency that the program be adopted as soon as possible.
“We have a need,” Mulcock said. “We have been looking for this kind of training for our teachers for a long time and we have asked for it and waited. We can’t wait any longer. It has got to be a priority.”

Wilson stopped short on giving an estimated timeline that it would take to get it through the CCSD central approval process.

“Of course, we work for the CCSD, so I can’t make any promises on how much time it will take,” he said. “But I’d say to start by running the request up the chain of command and see what can be done.”

A motion was made to draft a letter in support of the program. This letter would be sent as back up to the request from the principals. The motion was approved with a unanimous vote.

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