SAN ANTONIO — Northside ISD will introduce an active shooter training for students in this new school year.
The district announced this new training earlier this summer. NISD Spokesperson Barry Perez said middle school and high school students will be shown the video after school starts later this month.
"The video and the strategy within the video 'Run. Hide Fight.' is something that is approved by law enforcement agencies across the country," Perez said. "This is really a community approach. This isn't something that just school administrators or district police are going to be worried about; this is something every teacher in Northside (ISD), every person in every department needs to be worried about."
Perez said the video was created to help address safety concerns, and parents will receive a notice from their school principals before it's presented to students.
"We also don't want our kids to be fearful," Perez said. "We want them to know that when they're in our schools, our responsibility is to keep them safe, and we take that responsibility very seriously. It's why (we have) over 100 commissioned police officers on our police department."
Fred Cardenas, manager for the early childhood well being program at the Family Service Association of San Antonio, said that many parents have called to ask for advice about how to discuss concerns with their children in the wake of last weekend's mass shootings.
"Sometimes, kids, if exposed enough, may regress in their development, may have difficulty eating or sleeping if it gets to that extreme," Cardenas said, "and sometimes teachers and parents may not be prepared to address those effectively."
His suggestion for parents is to limit the amount of graphic details or exposure to their children, to involve them in community outreach and volunteer efforts, and to have open dialogue daily.
"Follow a child's lead in terms of answering questions about disasters and violence in a very simple manner, a very brief manner," Cardenas said. "Sometimes as parents or adults ,we need to give them every detail to reassure them. But when a child doesn't understand some of that complexity, giving them a simple answer is enough."
He said awareness and education is key. Parents can also seek professional help from counselors and the community, if necessary.
Perez said Northside ISD also has counselors on every campus and a 24-hour Safeline where parents, students or staff can call and leave an anonymous tip.