Pages

May 01, 2013

Incognito Sherriff's dept. volunteers burst into small Oregon highschool during teacher's meeting, firing blanks at unprepared staff to 'test readiness'

Two masked men wearing hoodies and wielding handguns burst into the Pine Eagle Charter School in this tiny rural community. Students were at home for an in-service day, so the gunmen headed into a meeting room full of teachers and opened fire.

Someone figured out in a few seconds that the bullets were not drawing blood because they were blanks and the exercise was a drill, designed to test Pine Eagle's preparation for an assault by "active shooters" who were, in reality, members of the school staff. But those few seconds left everybody plenty scared.

Principal Cammie DeCastro said it became clear very quickly just how many of the school's 15 teachers would have survived. The answer: "Not many," she said.

Elementary teacher Morgan Gover, 31, said only two teachers would have lived to tell the tale. She admitted being scared, and also acknowledged she would have been among the casualties, having taken several fake direct hits from the shooters.

"I'll tell you, the whole situation was horrible," she said. "I got a couple in the front and a couple in the back."

The surprised staff had received training from the Union County Sheriff's Office on active shooter scenarios. They had been told they had some options, such as not rushing out of their classrooms when gunfire erupted, and locking and barricading their doors.

They weren't expecting a drill like this, and they were caught by surprise when the two men entered and began firing.
"There was some commotion," DeCastro said.

The goal of the drill was to learn how people would react, so better emergency plans could be made, she said.

It was a wake-up for many of the teachers.

"It was shocking," said elementary teacher Dollie Beck, 54.

Surprisingly, the drill made Beck aware that she would not have recognized the sounds of gunfire. "I would have blown it off as kids' sounds in the hall," she said.

The drill has since prompted her to keep her classroom door locked and to think of windows as escape routes, she said. But the biggest insight for her was the reminder that she is in charge of the youngsters in her classroom, and would have to remain calm in an emergency.

"Emotion begets emotion," she said.

Gover said before the drill, she was comfortable she had a plan to deal with such a situation. What she learned was, her plan wasn't much good. "It heightened my awareness about what's around me," she said.

Halfway, population 288, is the eastern Oregon ranching town that became world-famous 13 years ago as the globe's first "Internet city." The city council changed Halfway's name to Half.com in return for $73,000 from a Philadelphia-based Internet bazaar of the same name that sold books, CDs, movies and the like on-line at half price.

The town got its old name back a year later when the on-line bazaar was sold to eBay. Now Halfway is back in the real world, where people sometimes enter schools and open fire.

DeCastro has heard some criticisms of the drill from townsfolk, but is convinced it was valuable. "For us not to know how we were going to respond is leaving us open," she said.

Beck and Gover agree.

"I'm in charge of a pile of kids," said Gover. "It made me analyze as a teacher what my role is for these babies."

The district's Safety Committee and the School Board now will critically evaluate policies and procedures and decide what to do next, said DeCastro.

Armed teachers is one possible outcome, she said. Or the district may get armed and trained volunteers from the community to watch over the school in shifts, she said. Tougher doors and better locks are other options.

 Gover said the teachers tend to favor having one or two armed teachers in the building at all times.

"We are so remote," Gover said, "we are going to have to take care of ourselves."

But thinking about active shooter scenarios is hard, she said.

"We are tender-hearted people who give hugs all day. We don't think like that."

22 comments:

  1. So the govt once again causes terror in society. Who are the terrorists again?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Keeping normal folks too scared too think - openly terrorised by the state in the name of 'safety'.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shit of a thing to spring on unsuspecting people and I've read another article where some of the teachers are NOT happy 'bout what happened. But on the positive side it WAS a big wake up call and I'm impressed with their general reaction to it. Firstly, they have worked out that the state or local police/county sherrifs aren't going to be of ANY assistance and that they are on their own. This realisation,in my opinion, is the most important factor in formulating their responce plan.
    Secondly, they are being very practical - (hey, they're rural people, just about the only regular Americans that still need to think and plan ahead as the "24/7 mall isn't just down the road") They aren't influenced (too much anyway) by the incessant anti gun hysteria in the aftermath of Sandy Hook, Batman Shooting, etc. and know a good guy or gal with a gun, properly trained,is the ONLY way of confronting a "Bad Guy" with a gun (most often illegally obtained so laws don't affect them.)with any hope of emerging alive.
    I'm not American but have paid close attention to the assault by the federal govt on 2A and the Constitution in general. The American Declaration of Independance and Constitution as first written and adhered to, were two of mankinds most important documents in the field of Liberty and Freedom of the Individual. They are the Grail to which all lovers of freedom aspire and are in perilous danger as I write. The Second Amendment must not be watered down or else TRUE freedom will be lost for once the American people are disarmed the global elites new world order will fall into place with nere a whimper.

    ReplyDelete
  4. A gun free zone, fails the safety test? BIG SURPRISE THERE!

    ReplyDelete
  5. What would have happened if one of those teachers had been packing

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Justice would have been swiftly and decisively served, I'd expect.

      Delete
    2. 4 imaginary deaths and 2 real deaths.

      Delete
    3. The person saving their life would have gone to prison for illegal posession & murder...

      Self defense it not allowed in schools.
      Good thing no one knew any other defensive tactics. They too would ahve beena rrested for assault & battery of a police officer - this was Oregon, right?

      Delete
  6. Good thing for those CJs my mother was not one of those teachers. Bullshit bully lessons or not. You can't teach class. With class comes power. The FBI has coordinated every major terrorist event in the U.S. in the past 15 years minimum. Time to clean out the pigs.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I hope that the Sherriff's men brought with them some clean undies for the teachers to change?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yes imagine if a "thinking" armed teacher pulled out a 16x shot Baretta 9mm and wasted them both before either had finished firing their second rounds ... that would have been embarassing for the police !!!???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's what I was thinking.

      Delete
    2. Nah, they woulda covered up everything and hung the armed teacher out to dry

      Delete
  9. define irony...

    is America truly a classless "SOCIETY" of "JEW" worshipping morons ?

    http://snippits-and-slappits.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-spoils-of-war-afghanistans.html

    curiously a plant is "Our" enemy and the First Class TERRORIST {S} -

    print the currency & Own the Media & operate a Crackhouse called Congress

    http://careandwashingofthebrain.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-asshole-will-be-everywhere-promises.html

    mass psychoses by Talmudvision

    ReplyDelete
  10. Had I been there (with my CCL, 1911 & Rugar "New York Reload"), those masked men would have been in for a fail of epic proportions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Been in a school with a CCL?

      Maybe with prior written permission - if that is allowed even then in that progressive lib nuthouse of a state.

      Delete
  11. these drills are leaglized terrorism
    on the people by there jew controlled masters
    all americans are jew slaves and you too fucking
    stupid to know it or see it

    ReplyDelete
  12. And what would have happened if one of those teachers had keeled over from a heart attack because of the surprise? I'm not saying I wish any harm to the teachers at all, but a nice fat lawsuit might put the sheriff's office in its place.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Too bad the teachers weren't armed. Could've had a couple of dead "drillers". That would learn them.

    ReplyDelete
  14. What if one of those teachers had believed all the hype and was packing heat? Union County Sherriff's Dept. would be in need of two new stooges then.

    ReplyDelete
  15. OK, let's create fear, again. Had that been me in that room, I would have either taken out my gun and shot the intruders all dead, expecting the worst, or if I had no gun (which apparently none of them did) I would personally have beaten them to a bloody pulp for doing that to the group. Any one of those teachers who condones this behavior is certainly a well-educated government slave, and an idiot at best. Yes, I wish someone in that room was armed... and now perhaps they will be despite what the unconstitutional laws say.

    ReplyDelete