Active-shooter drill Wednesday February 25

The Odessa School District, Odessa Fire Department, Odessa Hospital, Odessa EMS personnel, Odessa Police Department, Odessa Public Works, and Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Deputies will team up to hold an “Active Shooter Drill” next month. Organizers, including Superintendent Suellen White, Principal Jamie Nelson, Fire Chief Don Strebeck, Police Chief Helen Coubra, Maintenance Supervisor Justin Parr, Hospital Administrator Mo Sheldon, Undersheriff Kelly Watkins, and Sheriff Wade Magers, met recently to work on the details and planning for the full-scale exercise.

Sheriff Magers reports that the goal is for each discipline to practice their respective duties and for the staff to practice the school policy and lock down protocols should an emergency occur that dictates such a response. “We never want to have to do this for real,” Magers said, “however training is important for all the respective departments and staff to become efficient and safe if we ever have to go into a full lockdown situation.

The active shooter drill is scheduled for February 25 at 12:30 p.m. The respective departments will treat the incident as if it were real. Teachers will lock down their classrooms, fire personnel will block roads and protect access to the perimeter, ambulance and EMS personnel will respond and transport a “designated actor” by ambulance to the hospital, and law enforcement from the Odessa Police Department and Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office will respond to search and secure the school. The students will be evacuated from the school to a safe zone and later transported back to the school.

School Superintendent White, Chief Coubra, and Sheriff Magers agree that it is worthwhile to have all the respective emergency services, school personnel, and hospital staff train in unity to prepare for a situation that they hope will never happen. Magers also added that his dispatchers and 911 personnel will also play a role in the active shooter drill.