STEPHENS CO., Okla_ In light of the
Newtown, Connecticut
shootings where 26 people, including children were gunned down, the Stephens County
Sheriff's Department and rural schools have teamed up in hopes of preventing a
tragedy like that one from happening within their walls.
Monday, teachers and faculty at Central High met with deputies to learn
how an instance like that can be avoided, or at least minimized.
Stephens County
Sheriff Wayne McKinney said the most important thing to recognize is that the Newtown tragedy can
happen anywhere, at any time, even in rural areas. He said it's a tough reality
to swallow, but it's something that must be dealt with.
Preparing for a
tragedy like this one inside one of his school's walls is something McKinney said he never
thought he'd have to prepare for.
"When I
was going to school, we had gun in our cars," McKinney said, "Because we would go hunting. We
had our shot guns in our cars. We'd go hunting after school in the afternoon. It
never crossed our minds to use that weapon against our fellow students or our
teachers."
Times have
changed, and that's something his deputies are teaching teachers and Central High
Superintendent Bennie Newton to prepare for. Newton said his school already has a plan in
place, but they are always looking to make improvements.
"The drill
that we have code names for, the staff is aware of the code," Newton said. "They know the codes to call off
and let everyone know everything is safe and back to normal."
McKinney said as the
times change, plans should reflect that. That's why his deputies are
encouraging teachers to think outside of the box when faced with an emergency.
"If you've
got your children outside, and we've got an active shooter in the school, you
wouldn't want to bring those kids back in the school," McKinney said. "You may want to hit the woods
and get away from the school, instead of bringing them in according to policy
and locking the school and yard down. A lot of times, that's not the best
plan."
Despite 26
people being gunned down in Newtown, McKinney said it could
have been worse, had the school not had a plan in place. He said no plan is too
great, and that preparing for the worst is necessary.
"We're
learning now that the potential was there for it to be a lot worse," McKinney said. "The
people that commit these acts, the people with media coverage want to make
their self better by higher body count."
Newton said being a
rural school has its pros and cons if it were to become the target of a
shooting. He said while they are in an isolated area a good distance from the
law, the community is so close knit, passersby don't hesitate to report
something out of the ordinary.
One of the things teachers learned to look for was signs of a disturbed
student. Those signs could be drawings of death and destruction or writings of
death and suppressed anger.
