Teachers Get Lesson in Responding to a School Shooting

A man in a hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses stormed down the hallway at James Mastricola Upper Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon, rifle in hand, screaming at teachers lined up against the wall.

“Bang, you're dead. Bang, you're dead. Bang, you're dead,” he said as he raised the unloaded gun in the direction of  three of them.

He then burst through the doors of a classroom, demanding to know where Mr. Jones was before “shooting” a few more and making his way into the classroom next door through an unlocked adjoining door where a couple more teachers were “shot” before a tactical team from Merrimack Police Department took him down.

The hooded sweatshirt and jeans-clad man was actually Merrimack Police officer Michael Marcotte and the scenario was part of a drill being done at each public school across the district to help better prepare local educators about how to react in the instance there was ever an active shooter on school property.

JMUES was the third of Merrimack's six schools to host the training, and former Thornton's Ferry Principal Les Carter, who now works with the school district as an emergency preparedness consultant said the staffs at all three schools have seemed to react to the training about the same.

Reeds Ferry Elementary, Merrimack Middle School and now JMUES have all listened to Capt. Pete Albert and Lt. Matthew Tarleton speak about the likely mindset of a shooter entering a school building – to do as much damage and hurt as  many people as quickly as possible, and how the worst thing someone can do in an active shooter incident is to do nothing.

Albert said the purpose of conducting these drills is not only to get teachers, staff and administration at the schools to think about their classrooms and building differently, in terms of how to use it to defend themselves, but also to show them what police do and how they respond  physically to an emergency situation such as this.

Albert said as a police officer for 30 years, he remembers back in 1999 after Columbine when the department began training for school shootings and finding it surreal. Now, it's an integral part of police officer training, being prepared for the public shootings – not just in schools.

Among the most important take aways of the training, Albert said, is for teachers to be cognizant of what they can to do help keep a situation calm at the center of chaos, and how they can best try to keep their kids safe in the period of uncertainty that inevitably comes with a shooting.

"God forbid it should happen here, there's going to be a period of time where it's just you in your own spaces," Albert said. "…The only wrong thing to do in a situation like this is to do nothing."

Tarleton, who gave a short presentation before showing a five minute video about ways to respond to an active shooter situation. Moving on to the active shooter demonstration with Marcotte and a tactical team, teachers had the opportunity to witness how they are trained to respond to eliminate a threat.

Reconvening in the cafeteria, teachers and staff were given the opportunity to ask questions. 

Carter said in his observation of the first three school visits, the questions have been similar and the he's seen consistency among how serious the staffs are taking the training.

"I've been watching their faces, wondering if people would be emotional, but I haven't seen a lot of emotion, rather that they are focused and really thinking about what they're being told," Carter said.

JMUES Principal Marsha McGill said they practice safety drills on a regular basis within the school. Only a month into the year, they've already had fire and lockdown drills that they've run with the kids. 

Safety is a primary focus within the school and a topic of discussion at every staff meeting. There is  safety committee that reviews best practices and runs drills  and every classroom is equipped with detailed plans  and emergency backpacks. 

To add to it, McGill said the school's relationship with the police department, and the fact that they work closely with Officer Robert Kelleher, who serves as the Police and Children Together Officer, and is visible in the building throughout the week gives some peace of mind. 

Superintendent Marge Chiafery said the district's close relationship with the police department helps put minds at ease, and even with these trainings, the police department is making sure there is an officer available at the schools the next day to answer any questions and talk with teachers after they've had a chance to absorb the training.

With Kelleher at JMUES during the week and school resource officers Michael Murray at the High School and Tom Prentice at the middle school, as well as officers stopping in for visits and to read to children at the elementary schools, Chiafery said there is consistent police presence within the schools in non-threatening way.

"They have become an integral part of our way of being in Merrimack's schools," she said.

There are three active shooter trainings left at Merrimack High School on Oct. 18, Thornton's Ferry on Oct. 21 and Mastricola Elementary School on Nov. 4.