UVALDE, Texas — Crisis situations are always difficult and people make the best decisions they can in the moment. Yet, the school shooting at Robb Elementary holds lessons for educators and law enforcement so there can be better outcomes in the future.
Ken Trump, a national school safety expert with National School Safety and Security Services said there are two big takeaways: First, school doors need to always remain locked. Second, there are a several items districts can give to law enforcement in advance to make officers’ jobs easier during an emergency:
“Having floor plans and blueprints, remote access to school surveillance cameras, giving our officers key cards, fobs, or even keys ahead of time so they can get in a save lives,” Trump said.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said last week police officers waited almost an hour to enter the classroom the shooter was in partially because they needed a key to get in.
He also said school teachers and staff need better training on situational awareness so they can more quickly pick up on anything abnormal and react sooner.
“Our educators have a whole different way of making decisions,” he said. “Educators make decisions by forming committees and teams, looking at all the possible options, and picking the best choice. In a life-threatening situation, you have to have situational awareness, the ability to recognize abnormalities outside of the normal patterns, and make split-second decisions under duress, which is a very different way of thinking to what most educators have been trained and work in on a day-to-day basis.”
He said school districts will likely adapt and update their safety and security measures and plans in the wake of the Uvalde school schooling.