The Marion City Schools and Marion City Police Department teamed up to present an Active Shooter Response Training for parents and community members on Thursday at the Marion County Fairgrounds Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
MCS Superintendent Steve Fuji introduced the program to all those attending and gave the microphone to Marion City School's Resource Police Officer Mike Dunaway who explained, “Preparedness is very important to everyone in an active shooter situation.”
Dunaway detailed that so far this year, the Marion City Schools have initiated many new changes and additions to safety. Including a new 5th grade Safety City program that will begin this Spring. The new 5th grade program will focus on teaching the “See Something, Say Something” campaign. All Maroin City School buildings have upgraded security cameras. And all have mental health counseling available. Marion City Schools has also had a full communications system test and is implementing a new text messaging communication system for parents and staff later in 2018.
Officer Dunaway told the crowd gathered that active shooters focus on mass casualties an there usually no negotiation possible with these shooters. He also said 68% of the weapons active shooters use come from their own home.
93% of Active school Shooters have shown tendencies of violence and most have planned out the actual attack, which has made Marion City Police Chief Bill Collins to add to the “See Something, Say Something” motto. He teaches kids to “See something say something, to someone in authority!” He explained, “We need to make sure we’re reporting these things to someone who can properly investigate the situation.”
The Marion City Schools and Marion City Police Department has taught the ALICE program to their teachers, staff and students. This age specific training is designed to make teachers, staff and others the first responders in our schools. A.L.I.C.E. stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate.