It is the nightmare that keeps every parent awake. What happens if an active shooter comes to my child’s school?

The fear and anxiety only increased following the tragedy in Uvalde, where confusion and uncertainty during the emergency response led to investigations and a re-evaluation of the Texas school district’s procedures.

The Steel Valley School District has enhanced the mental and emotional health services available to students and developed partnerships with community organizations to assist families. But it’s also important for teachers and staff to undergo regular safety and security training, which is why the entire district recently took part in an active shooter simulation and security training with the help of local first responders.

“It is true – everything you do in practice and drill, you're going to do in real time with experience,” Steel Valley Chief of Police Darrel Parker said. “It just it just kicks in. It comes automatically.”

Chief Parker joined the district over the summer. He was hired to help coordinate the school’s safety and security procedures, with the help of the district’s school resource officers, security contractors, and local police. Chief Parker has been part of the Steel Valley community for decades. His children graduated from Steel Valley. He spent 23 years with the Munhall Police Department, including eight as Chief of Police. He then spent 21 years with the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office, where he worked as an inspector for 21 years.

“I actually was considering retirement. But this opportunity came. I was born and raised here, lived here all my life,” Chief Parker said. “They may be a lot younger than me and my kids may have been grown and gone, but these are still our kids. And I would love to do everything I can to make sure they're safe.”

Munhall Police Department Officer Dan Boehme, who has been a school resource officer in the district for 10 years, led the recent training at the high school. Officer Boehme guided the Steel Valley staff through updates to ALICE training, a training tool used by a number of school districts that provides guidelines for school personnel during active shooter scenarios.

Prior to the active shooter simulations, Officer Boehme went through some updated protocols for the district, including a few demonstrations. The training emphasized situational awareness, the importance of effective communication during intense and confusing situations, and updates on a new application district employees are using to communicate as a group and use as a resource for guidelines on lockdown scenarios.

The training can be a lot to take in and it’s common to feel anxiety, even while understanding it’s a simulation. Chief Parker acknowledged those feelings are understandable.

“A lot of them have anxiety and I understand. They didn't expect their life to be like this. They were going to be a teacher. They're going to be in classrooms teaching these kids, not worrying about barricading them in and surviving a gun battle,” he said. “And so, I understand a lot of their reluctance to do this, but it's for their own safety.”

Chief Parker and Officer Boehme are stationed at the high school and middle school complex. Sergeant Timothy Tichon of Munhall has been stationed at Park Elementary, while Officer Larry Storch of the Homestead Police Department is at Barrett Elementary. Together, they represent the first line of security should an active shooter situation take place. Chief Parker assures there will be no hesitation on how to respond.

“Now the training is if there's one we go after them,” he said. “We go in, we try to neutralize the shooter. Is there a chance we're not going to make it? Yeah, there's a good possibility.”

When additional officers arrive on scene, they are under directions to enter the building immediately.

“They're not waiting, they're coming in,” he said. “So, a shooter is going to have to deal with wave after wave of officers coming in, they're not going to be waiting.”

That immediate response is why situational awareness and communication is a key part of the training. No situation is the same. Teachers and staff need to be given the option to evacuate or shelter in place depending on their observations of how the situation is unfolding.

“There's no right or wrong answer. Whatever they feel at the time they need to do to survive and to make their students survive, do it,” Chief Parker said. “The best thing is if you can get out of the building, however you can, to get out. If you're not sure where the shooter is, if you hear shots going on, barricade.”

Real-life training sessions are critical because even the best guidance from national advisers can have faults. The Steel Valley team was given instructions on a new way to barricade doors, only to identify several possible flaws.

“It didn't work here. So, we're going to go back to the old way and then we'll go back to the drawing board,” Chief Parker said. “We're going to come up with some solutions that will work.”

It’s hard to get the fear and anxiety to go away. But should a threat ever come to Steel Valley, the training conducted in early October is designed to ensure the threat ends as quickly as possible.

“What I have seen since I've been at Steel Valley is they they've gone over and above everything they can do to make sure that the kids are safe, that the building is safe, and they have as much technology and training as can possibly be done,” Chief Parker said.