Active Shooter Training for Jal Schools

By John Earp

This past Monday, staff of the Jal School District went through active shooter training with Global One, a regional security training company which has worked with Jal Schools along with Jal first responders in the past. Training includes trained speakers with extensive backgrounds in security as well as hands-on instruction in ways to disarm a shooter if the need were to arise.

Tragically, the marked rise in school shootings in recent years, with 350 school shootings in 2023 alone, requires that all staff be fully prepared mentally and physically ahead of time to respond to an active shooter. Often, school shooters are disgruntled students, so attention to students’ state of mind, especially those who exhibit social isolation or antisocial behavior, is key to prevention.

Over the past several years, Jal Schools has also employed police officers as school resource officers in conjunction with Jal Police Department, with one officer at Jal Elementary and one at the Junior/Senior High School. In addition, the new construction of Jal Elementary, Junior High and High School in recent years has included state-of-the-art security including bullet-resistant glass, automatic lockdown overhead doors, safe rooms, and barriers at the entrance ways designed to prevent a vehicle from smashing through the doors to gain access.