Schools hold active shooter drills

LADY LAKE — The Villages Elementary of Lady Lake and several other Lake County schools held active shooter drills last week, walking students through how to survive an armed attack of their school.

It was the second time since since October that the district has conducted the drills, part of a statewide shift from lockdown drills to active shooter response.

The drills are as much for the teachers as the students, Principal Dave Bordenkircher said.

"One of the things that has to happen is teachers have to make decisions," he said. "Our teachers did a phenomenal job today."

The spring drills were focused on safely escaping the school in case of an active shooter. When the drill began, students and teachers opened their doors, looked around and started quietly finding their way to safety. Autumn drills ran students through barricading their classrooms and hunkering down.

The district's safety and security specialist, Jimmer Roy, said if an actual shooter attacked the campus, it would be up to the teacher to figure out what method was right for the moment. The determining factor would be whether it was safe to move.

Previously, Roy said the best option, and the one teachers will explore first, is to get students out.

"Run is always going to be your best option," Roy said in October. "Because if you're not there, you're safe."

The drills themselves are based on the ALICE method of active shooter response, a method developed by a former police officer after the Columbine High School shooting in 1999.

Roy said Lake schools adaptation is to run if possible, barricade if you can’t, and if the shooter is an immediate threat, do whatever it takes to get away, including throwing things and scattering.

Students are also taught a universal part of active shooter safety, holding their hands up, palms outward to show they’re unarmed.

Roy, alongside law enforcement and school administrators, monitored the drill to make sure that all of the procedures were going to plan and students were following those rules to stay safe.

Because the drills are meant to prepare students to save their lives, the task is taken very seriously, but the district is also aware that students need to know they are safe during the drill.

“We want them to take it seriously, but we don’t want to frighten everybody,” Bordenkircher said.

Prior to the start of each drill, an announcement is made that there will be an active shooter drill. Then, another announcement is made saying the drill is starting, kicking off the action.

"For our purpose, we want students to know that it's a drill," Bordenkircher said. "It lets them know they're safe."

Parents are also notified of the drill immediately and are asked to speak with their children once they are home to make sure they understood what they were doing, and why.

Before the drills ever happen, the school district is trying to ensure training materials are effective for all ages. Bordenkircher said his teachers have access to a children's book, a PowerPoint presentation and a video to help them prepare students.

The teachers have latitude to figure out what will work with their students, and it's up to them to be sure students know what to do in a drill.

Bordenkircher said it was vital that the teachers are the leaders of their students, both in the training and in the situation. When they undergo training, they learn different approaches, but they also are taught how to decide what tactics to use. There shouldn't be any gray areas, he said.

Bordenkircher added that Roy and law enforcement being present for every drill was a major boon for administrators, who debriefed with the group at the end of each drill.

Without that direct involvement, he said, the smooth operation he saw Thursday just wouldn't be possible.