Glacier High staff to have active-shooter training

Glacier High School staff will go through active-shooter and emergency-preparedness training Monday as part of a professional development day.

There will be no school for Glacier High School students and the building will be closed from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. while the training is going on.

Certified trainers from Kalispell, Columbia Falls and Whitefish police departments, Kalispell youth court and mental health services, and Kalispell, Whitefish, Somers and Eureka schools will serve as instructors, leading 105 staff members through a variety of scenarios related to school safety and security. Trainees will also learn the “run, lock, fight” method of actively resisting an armed intruder.

Active resistance training is meant to teach people how to make and act on split-second decisions using simple techniques to buy time and save lives until police arrive. This may include running, fighting or taking a weapon away.

This is the first time Glacier will go through the training.

Similar training was held at Flathead High School in March 2016 when educators and first responders from around the valley took part in a two-day “active resistance” training and certification.

Since then, Flathead has gone through more trainings to cover all staff. Additionally, a group of 30 certified trainers headed up by Kalispell Police Department Officer Cory Clarke formed the Northwest Run, Lock, Fight group. The group leads active-resistance trainings around the region at schools and other organizations. Clarke estimates that about 1,200 people have been trained in the region since the group formed.