Training too soon

While we at the News Letter Journal see the legitimacy in the TAC*ONE active shooter training, taught by a group of police officers out of Washington, Colo., we are heart broken to see this be what our middle school and high school students are taught on the first day of school. 
Even more heartbreaking is the fact that the students are told that they are the only ones that can be guaranteed to make sure they survive in active shooter situations. Only 12 years ago, our news editor, Alexis Barker, was still in high school and she recalls feelingt that school was a safe place where students were able to be comfortable while learning. 
It is deeply saddening that this is what our world has come to, that students now must be taught on the first day of school how to escape during active shooter situations and if escaping isn’t possible, how to blockade themselves in a room or use a group of students to take down the shooter by subduing their limbs. 
Here at the News Letter Journal we recognize that these safety issues cannot be fixed overnight and that this is a country wide issue that there may be no real solution to. We are simply discouraged that this was the first day lesson for our local students. 
We believe that the first week of school should be about getting back into the groove of school, reuniting with friends and teachers, and preparing the students for the upcoming school year. We also noticed during our coverage of the training that not all students were taking what the trainers were saying seriously, often giggling through the drills and visiting with friends instead of absorbing the training. 
Maybe in future years Weston County School District No. 1 can consider moving the training to a later date, allowing for the students to get settled into their
classrooms first. 
We do want to commend the high school and middle school for locking the doors to monitor who is coming and going from our schools despite the inconvenience it causes. Our staff feels that this is an appropriate way to protect our students and show them that the adults they are entrusted to are going to do what they can to guarantee their safety while at school.