Rising school threats spur active shooter drills

The Department of Education (DepEd) said on Wednesday that it will roll out active shooter drills across public schools to prepare students and teachers during an armed attack, following the increasing reports of school threats nationwide.

“We are adjusting because this is the first shooting where students were the shooters,” Education Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” M. Angara told reporters in Filipino during an interview.

The drill, scheduled to launch on Friday, aims to establish strict protocols in cases of a school shooting, after two minors opened fire inside San Jose National High School (SJNHS) in Tacloban City,  killing three students and injuring 20 others.

“We are now doing the active shooter drills, [to orient] what they should do if there’s an active shooter in school,” Mr. Angara said. “We will now have automatic protocols.”

The Education chief added that he will coordinate with the Philippine National Police (PNP) to address the rising bomb threats among schools nationwide.

“We will seek help from the PNP because there are increasing bomb threats,” he said. “Some schools automatically suspend classes while those who are used to bomb threats call SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) Team.”

“The SWAT Team will pause the classes for a while, and the students will not be asked to go home immediately. Once the SWAT Team cleared the campus, students will be able to resume their classes,” he added.

Several schools across the country have reported bomb threats, following the Tacloban school shooting incident, including Amadeo National High School in Amadeo, Cavite, on July 3.

Quezon National High School, Luisa Medel National High School, and Eastern Samar National Comprehensive High School (ESNCHS), among others, have also received bomb threats over the past week.

DepEd earlier warned that bomb jokes or threats fall under the third level of offense under the Guidelines on Ensuring a Safe and Motivating Learning Environment (ESMLE).

Students who are proven to have made such a threat may face non-readmission, in which they can still finish the school year but will not be allowed to enroll the following year, or exclusion, which means immediate removal from the class list.

The agency also offers Psychological First Aid (PFA) to students, as well as their families and teachers who were traumatized by recent school incidents.

“PFA is important because, aside from our students, parents, families, teachers, and other DepEd staff were traumatized,” Mr. Angara said. “In Tacloban alone, hundreds were traumatized.”

SJNHS has officially resumed its face-to-face (F2F) classes on Monday, following the fatal shooting. — Almira Louise S. Martinez