HERNANDO COUNTY, Fla. -- Starting Wednesday, Aug. 1, school administrators and staff in Hernando County schools will participate in and complete active shooter training before students return on Aug. 13.
- Hernando schools to participate in active shooter training
- Training is one more phase of district's preparedness effort
- Future training for students to be scheduled
The active shooter training, ALERT--Assess, Lockdown, Evade, Resist, Tell--is an open source civilian response training system. It is conducted by SafePlans, a Florida-based company specializing in school safety.
The district said the training is a vital component of the multi-year school safety plan that began in February when the school board moved to place 10 additional School Resource Officers at all elementary schools.
They said the active shooter training enhances existing lockdown plans and integrates them into a framework that meets the new Standard of Care detailed in the U.S. Department of Education’s Guide for Developing High Quality School Emergency Operations Plans.
The training in August is for school staff, however, future trainings designed for students will be scheduled.
"The safety of our students and staff continues to be a priority. This training is necessary to provide staff with a highly specialized set of best practices and skills to ensure emergency readiness should the unthinkable happen here," Superintendent John Stratton said.