Winfield-Mt. Union School District prepares students for active shooter with “Run, Hide, Fight” video

WINFIELD - Students in the Winfield-Mt. Union School District are learning how to prepared for the worst.

The students have been shown a video on how to react during an active-shooter situation.

'If there's an active shooter, we need to figure out where they are and then come up with a plan from there,” Winfield-Mt. Union High School junior Blythe Proffitt said.

Proffitt and her peers were shown the video during their homeroom period on Wednesday afternoon. In an attempt to prepare for emergencies dealing with armed individuals, students in the Winfield-Mt. Union school district watched videos and learned about evacuation plans.

Proffitt, who discussed the video with friends in the school's library, said the video was informative and enjoyed that it 'explained the reasoning” behind suggested actions.

'It didn't just say, ‘this is what you're supposed to do, we'll show you a quick demonstration,'” Proffitt said.

Fellow high school junior Treah Maish said she was most surprised by some of the reactions portrayed in the video of people responding to active shooters.

'Some people were really freaking out, like having a breakdown. I don't think I'd freak out but I might freeze. And we also learned we can't let people slow us down so we might have to leave them,” Maish said.

Maish said in a time where school shootings are seen around the United States more frequently, students talk about the possibility of it happening at home more often.

'We do talk about it more in school now, because of what's happening in other places. I don't think I'm scared but we do think about it more,” Maish added.

High School principal Dave Edwards said the clip that was shown to his students, 'Run, Hide, Fight,” was especially useful because it is a 'tactic that can be used in any situation.”

'Whether you're at the mall or at home or out on the street, this idea of run, hide, fight can work any place. It's unfortunate that we need to do these kinds of things, but being able to equip our kids with some of this is important,” Edwards said.

This is the first year the school has shown the video to students, however, teachers and staff have had discussions on evacuation plans.

Spanish teacher Scott McCarty, who lead the presentation with his own homeroom section, said he prefaced the video to students by explaining that oftentimes, people like to assume emergency situations don't happen where they are, but that it still is vital to be prepared.

'Run, hide, fight is not steps. It's, if you can't run, then hide. It's doing what you have to do to keep yourself safe,” McCarty explained.

Edwards said that the video was meant to help students consider how to take the best course of action in an emergency situation.

'It talked about how to find a good hiding spot. If you're in the bathroom and maybe you're smaller, you might be able to fit into a trash can. But if you hear someone coming, and you need to fight, maybe you can take the toilet seat and throw it at them. Fighting is always the last option,” Edwards said.

McCarty also observed how students seemed to react to the video. He said that most were 'kind of tight-lipped” after the viewing.

'The kids were really respectful of it … it's a pretty heavy and intense clip so there wasn't too much discussion,” McCarty said.

Superintendent Jeff Maeder said the district decided to show a video as another method to prepare students, rather than simulating a scenario.

'We're not sure running an actual drill, or portray an event is the right thing to do with students at this point. We wanted to find other ways to make sure they're prepared and have an idea of what to do,” Maeder said, 'We don't want to be naive and want to prepare them appropriately but not over do it so that we make them afraid to come to school.”