School staff learns to deal with armed intruder
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ARLEE — Spending the day learning to run, hide, or fight isn’t usually what happens in Arlee schools, but Lake County Sheriff Deputies Levi Read and School Resource Officer Clay Shoemaker and Detective Rick Lenz were on hand to train educators on procedures to deal with an armed intruder on Jan. 23.
Shoemaker attended a similar training on schools in Missoula and wanted to teach it to Arlee teachers. After several deputies were certified to teach the class, Shoemaker and Read brought it to a pupil-instruction-related day for Arlee teachers.
If they saw a shooter, Arlee staffers Willy Wright and Val Espinoza said, they learned to run first.
“If you can’t run, hide,” Espinoza said, with fight as the last resort.
As part of the training, an “intruder” dressed in a padded suit so teachers could thump on him.
Deputies also taught the teachers to “lock” hands with students and run, Wright said.
“It was really important hearing gunshots, to know what they sounded like,” said Amanda Wharton, Arlee High School special education teacher said, adding that people have to deal with their adrenaline levels as they barricade their rooms and hit and punch.
At the end of the training, teachers and staff also learned how to spray an intruder with the fire extinguisher and then slam them with the tank.
“At first I was really anxious, but it turned out to be a good experience,” said Misty Brien, AHS counselor.
