Starke County School Officials, Emergency Personnel Take Part in Active Shooter Tabletop Exercise

Posted on September 24, 2018
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI

Starke County’s educators and first responders recently tested how they’d react to an active shooter situation. Knox Elementary School Principal Michelle Tarnow reviewed this month’s tabletop exercise with the school board last week.

“So although it was not a light topic, I will tell you I left felling positive from the standpoint that we have really dedicated community first responders here,” she said. “And God forbid something were to really happen here, there is a really good team in this county to help us.”

She explained that Porter County Emergency Management Agency Director Lance Bella created a scenario of a 40-minute period following a hypothetical shooting. Taking part in the exercise were representatives from Knox, Oregon-Davis, and North Judson-San Pierre schools; Starke County Emergency Medical Services; local, county, and state police; and several other agencies.

Tarnow said Bella separated the scenario into different “moves.” Participants were asked to think about what they would normally be doing, and how they would react at each step as the event unfolds. Each group separately discussed their response to each move, and then shared it with the other participants.

Hamlet Town Marshal Clint Norem explained the purpose of the exercise with the town council during a recent meeting. “The schools have their own policies, how they’re going to handle this situation, which isn’t necessarily going to be what we would think would be the best,” he said. “However, we’re going to have to learn how to work together on that and understand that there are going to be things that will be kind of out of the law enforcement control or the school’s control. But everybody will have a better idea of why that’s happening.”

Tarnow told the school board that the various groups will look at ways they can refine their plans, and everyone will meet again in December to share them. Superintendent Dr. William Reichhart added that the tabletop exercise was funded by a grant from Good Oil to the three school districts.