U-46, police and fire departments simulate school shooting in emergency drill

Yellow police tape cordons off a section of the parking lot at Gifford Street High School. Officers from the Elgin Police Department and administrators from Elgin Area School District U-46 huddle around a white board in the back of a police SUV, listening intently to communications on events unfolding inside the four-story building.

Members of the Elgin Special Weapons and Tactics team, dressed in full gear and armed with rifles, wait for a signal from Tactical Response Team leader Sgt. Jim Lalley and seek solace from the blaring sun under tents.

In this active shooter training drill Tuesday morning, armed subjects enter the high school and move between classrooms. Then the words, “shots fired,” come across a radio. SWAT team members rush from the parking lot to a side door. A dispatcher tells deputies at the command post that a subject has been shot. A subject is also in custody.

John Heiderscheidt, the U-46 coordinator of school safety and security, said the scenario was a drill to prepare emergency responders and school officials for emergency events that require planning, communication, collaboration and precision. The district has conducted annual training sessions with the police department since 2007. Previous drills have been held at Abbott Middle School, as well as Elgin and Larkin high schools.

“Each year we meet to discuss incidents that occurred in schools and then take one of those incidents beyond what actually happened to a worse-case scenario,” Heiderscheidt said. “Our training tests our emergency planning, our preparedness, our skills, and our ability to recover from critical incidents. Our collaborative goal is for the safety of our communities.”

Heiderscheidt said Tuesday’s training “went well and identified areas for improvement.”

For example, stairwell numbers and doorway numbers did not correspond, leading to confusion as to which door officers should enter. Communication and efficiencies also can be improved, Heiderscheidt said.

For Vivian Leabhart, 48, of Elgin, the role of a shooting victim was intense.

“I was in there trying to imagine what it would be like if it was a real situation,” said Leabhart, who was “shot” in the leg. “I appreciate the work these officers do.”

Suzanne Colombe, principal at Bartlett High School, and Jim Szymczak, associate principal at South Elgin High School, said the training offered useful insight into the role of administrators and how a command post operates.

“We always says it’s never going to happen in our neighborhood,” Szymczak said. “But you have to be prepared and it is important to see how all of the emergency services work together in an incident like this.”