HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Sumner County Schools closed all of their campuses Friday to allow their staff to take part in active shooter training.
Friday’s event is believed to be the first time every staff member in the district joined together for one collective training session; that’s roughly 5,000 people — from teachers, to custodians, to principals and bus drivers — sitting in for an interactive, informative lecture on safety.
The program was led by the Nashville-based security consulting firm “Defense Systems.”
“We have found that the difference is made when the people in the building know what to do,” explained Tracey Mendenhall, the vice president for Defense Systems. “We’re not about traumatizing our teachers; we are about empowering them to know, what do I do, what part do I play if something bad happens where I am.”
School Resource Officers (SROs) will take the teachings back to their respective schools and work with the staff to unpack what they learned.
“This just gives us an opportunity to be able to review everything that we do, and to ensure that we’re evolving with each situation to make sure that we’re a step ahead,” said Lt. Chris Vines, who leads the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office SRO Division.
“This was one training that left me feeling like it was equipping people. It wasn’t just telling you scary things and saying ‘good luck,’” said Katie Brown, Sumner County School’s Director of Safety. “It is actually giving you the skills and the knowledge to feel more confident that you are able to make the right decisions and keep people safe (during a shooting).”
Many parents or district members have wondered whether this training was in response to the January shooting at Antioch High School.
School officials told News 2, repeatedly, it was not.
“The board of education and the Sheriff’s office have been planning this for quite some time. In order to bring 5,000-plus employees together, it takes awhile to work through schedules and calendars to get a date set,” said Lt. Vines.
The school district said they’re constantly adapting and looking to improve their safety protocols. That includes something as simple as doorknobs.
“I think (it’s) one of the most powerful tools to keeping kids safe, because if the door is closed and locked, then kids are in a safe space,” detailed Brown.
One safety concern News 2 has heard from local teachers: school shooters are almost always current or former students.
“If the threat is inside the building already, if the threat is a student who knows the safety protocols, how do you prepare for something like that?” asked News 2’s Sam Chimenti.
“Again, I’ll say that closed and [a] locked classroom door is still the number one barrier that’s keeping kids safe,” answered Brown. “But, we also like to rely heavily on the prevention end, and the awareness end. We want kids that are safe for themselves, and for their classmates.”
“It is more often than not an inside person,” said Mendenhall. “So, we can do all kinds of security on the exterior of our buildings… SROs are a part of our solution… but if people in the building don’t know what to do, and don’t know how to respond or where to put their kids, then we’re missing the boat. That’s what we’ve missed.”
“What really changed for us was 2023 [Covenant] in Nashville, and so, that made it to where we needed to know what happened, because if our program isn’t working there’s adjustments that need to be made,” added Mendenhall.
