Hawaii’s readiness for possible school shooting might be lagging

SECOND OF TWO PARTS

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Many Hawaii schools and colleges have launched unprecedented efforts to prevent and prepare for an active shooter on campus as mass shootings and targeted school violence have risen to historic high levels in the United States. But some worried educators and parents say some efforts here are moving too slowly.

School shootings that cause injury and/or death — 27 nationwide so far this year — are on pace to beat last year’s high of 34, according to a tracker maintained by the news organization Education Week. And there have been 403 mass shootings in all types of locations in the U.S. so far this year, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.

The possibility of a school shooting in Hawaii is now “something that’s always on a teacher’s mind,” said Logan Okita, state vice president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association and a reading teacher at Nimitz Elementary School. “Because gun violence across the country has been more prevalent, it’s even more so in the forefront now.”

>> RELATED: U.S. school shootings see dramatic rise in recent years

>> Hawaii Department of Education considering requiring ‘run, hide, fight’ training

>> 900 Hawaii school employees get violence-prevention training

A local sentiment that targeted violence in schools is a distant “mainland problem,” unlikely to happen in the Aloha State, used to be more common. That’s changing, especially since the May shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School — the deadliest school shooting in a decade.

“We can’t say in Hawaii it (targeted violence) doesn’t happen, because it can and it does happen here,” said a spokesperson for Blue Line Solutions Hawaii, a private company that provides “run, hide, fight” training to schools to help them prepare in case of an active shooter on campus.

Hawaii residents have tended to forget about major targeted violence here, such as the 1996 hostage standoff at Sand Island and the 1999 mass shooting at the Xerox building in Honolulu, said the spokesperson, who asked to keep staff names withheld because of their involvement with ongoing law enforcement actions. But the historic surge now of mass violence and school shootings means Hawaii officials “really need to focus on it (preparations), put some emphasis on it, be the best prepared as we possibly can be.”

The state Department of Education this summer has trained almost 900 employees in methods tailored specifically for preventing targeted violence such as school shootings from happening in the state’s 258 public schools. It’s the first time the Hawaii DOE has done such trainings on this scale, state Board of Education Chair Bruce Voss confirmed.

In June, 84 DOE employees were trained in the Salem-Keizer Student Threat Assessment System (see accompanying story this page). School employees learned “interventions and strategies designed to disrupt, prevent or mitigate a potential act of targeted violence,” DOE Communications Director Nanea Kalani said in an email responding to questions from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. In July another nearly 800 more school-level employees received related training.

Training is lagging

But Hawaii’s public schools are lagging in some strategies meant to prepare for a possible active shooter:

>> Just 51 DOE schools so far have received active- shooter response training to learn strategies to escape, preserve life and, if needed, fight back. More trainings are scheduled for this school year. “This is currently done by request of the school, but the department is looking to change that,” Kalani said.

>> Only 83 “vulnerability assessments” — to evaluate school facilities, grounds and security — have been conducted by personnel from the DOE’s Safety and Security Branch.

The evaluations, launched in 2017, look for “weaknesses and vulnerabilities of a school’s safety and security capabilities, and provide recommendations on mitigating those weaknesses and vulnerabilities,” Kalani said. So far, 16 more schools are on the calendar.

One reason the assessments are widely considered crucial is that teachers often express concern that many Hawaii school buildings and grounds are designed to be open to the tradewinds and passersby — unlike mainland schools, which tend to cluster classrooms inside buildings that can be more easily locked down. “We have very open campuses. We don’t have the ability to do metal detectors at one entryway like schools on the mainland,” HSTA President Osa Tui Jr. said.

>> Campus lockdown drills, another strategy to prepare students and school employees for an active-shooter threat, fell off schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic, state schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi acknowledged in a recent interview with the Star-Advertiser.

Having students huddle close together for such drills earlier in the pandemic was not worth the coronavirus risk — and educators meanwhile needed to focus on academic priorities such as dealing with learning loss and the high absenteeism caused by surges in the virus, he said.

All drills will be conducted on schedule in the new school year, he said. Lockdown, shelter in place, earthquake and evacuation drills, plus tsunami drills for schools in inundation zones, are supposed to be done once per school year. Fire drills are required on a monthly basis for elementary schools and quarterly for secondary schools.

>> Campus security personnel are sometimes in short supply due to hiring and retention difficulties, Tui said. “We have a lot of gaps in our campus security — like, a lot of gaps.” He said some teachers have told him that occasionally they are informed by their schools, “Sorry, there’s no security today. Teachers, be on the lookout.”

The DOE acknowledges a shortage of school security personnel made worse by the pandemic. Kalani did not provide numbers, but she said that “it is at a manageable level. … The Office of Talent Management is working hard to develop further incentives to attract and retain applicants.”

Hayashi said he wants the public to know that school safety measures are “moving as quickly as possible. … We are addressing the needs proactively so should a situation happen where it threatens the safety of others in school, we have plans we have practiced. We know we have got to do our best to protect our folks and our community.”

Private schools on alert

Hawaii private schools also are watching the mounting count of mass shootings and targeted school violence with a worried eye. “Over the last several years what’s become increasingly evident … is that the urgency and priority of student safety has risen to the top,” said Deanna D’Olier, associate director at the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, which represents 100 private schools across the state.

The nonprofit educational, advocacy and licensing organization has “doubled down” on making sure schools maintain updated safety plans, D’Olier said. An association workshop in January will focus on safety topics, including terrorism.

D’Olier said one encouraging trend among many private schools is a more “holistic” approach to violence prevention, in which schools are forging partnerships with law enforcement and community groups, and cooperating to share best practices. Efforts at Punahou School, Kamehameha Schools and Mid-Pacific Institute will be featured at the workshop, D’Olier said.

Each of Kamehameha’s three K-12 campuses and 30 preschools conducted at least one lockdown drill during the past school year, according to a statement issued by the school. Further, “In addition, we brought together leaders and key personnel from all three K-12 campuses for a training exercise focused on responding to an active shooter scenario. These sessions allowed us to simulate emergencies to test our procedures, update our plans, and prepare our staff to respond quickly in the event of a crisis. In the coming school year, we will continue to conduct ‘lockdown drills’ to prepare students and staff for a variety of situations, including active shooter scenarios and other dangers.”

Mid-Pacific declined to elaborate on its preparations. Meanwhile, Punahou is constantly updating its emergency procedures but is considering stronger steps, said Robert Gelber, director of communications. “The tragic shootings elsewhere in the country underscore the need for continued focus and vigilance in this area,” he said.

But at some smaller private schools with fewer resources, some parents quietly express worry that efforts may be less robust, D’Olier acknowledged. She said in such cases parents should not hesitate to talk with administrators. “One of (the association’s) roles is to push schools into that uncomfortable place to reflect on these questions.”

Meanwhile, each of Hawaii’s 37 public charter schools has its own emergency action plan for human and natural disasters, and each directs its own drills and training, said Sheryl Turbeville, services and communications director for the state Public Charter School Commission. The commission, in an April training session, focused on emergency and safety plans. And the DOE’s Safety, Security and Emergency Preparedness Branch team has offered to visit charter schools and do walk-throughs and review safety plans, Turbeville said in an email.

In response to a question about whether the charter schools have received response training for a shooting threat, Turbeville said, “In the past, the commission coordinated through the DOE to help set up active-shooter training for staff at charter schools, but due to COVID-19 that training was put on hold. Honolulu police have also done school safety training presentations for our schools.”

A Hawaii Pacific University spokesperson said leaders of the 3,000-plus- student system are “carefully monitoring the recent rise of shootings taking place across the country, and are continuously evaluating our own comprehensive security protocols to ensure the safety and welfare of our students, faculty and staff. As well, the mental and emotional health of our students has always been a high priority, and even more so during the pandemic and in light of current events.”

At the University of Hawaii at Manoa, whose 19,000 students make it the largest college campus in the state, multiple prevention and response measures are in place, said Sarah Rice, community programs manager in the UH Manoa Department of Public Safety. If an emergency situation such as a shooting were to occur, notifications would go out as texts, emails and social media posts, and an incident command with law enforcement would be stood up on campus. In 2019 the campus staged a joint training with the FBI to simulate response to an active shooter, Rice said, and tabletop exercises are held at least twice a year.

Rice said her office already usually offers 30 to 40 active- shooter response trainings a year, but requests lately have been rising. She urges even people with past training to get a refresher. “We tell people, ‘If you haven’t taken our active-shooter training in the last two years, then you haven’t taken it.’”

Preparing for a crisis

So given the threat level and preparations so far, are Hawaii campuses as prepared as they should be?

Four in 10 educators nationwide say they feel less safe in their schools than they did five years ago, and 6 in 10 teachers and administrators say they fear “purposeful mass homicide,” according to recent surveys by the news organization Education Week.

Hayashi said although work continues, he thinks officials have prepared as thoroughly as possible. “I’m confident that our schools will do what they need to do to ensure the safety of our students. I believe we have plans in place.”

Should a crisis happen, Hayashi continued, “I’m confident everyone will be all-hands-on-deck to ensure the safety of everyone else. That’s the nature of our educators in Hawaii.”

Voss, who became chair of the BOE in July, said the board will place new emphasis on preventing targeted campus violence. He said the board will ask the DOE this fall to report on three areas: school safety plans, which every public school is required to maintain; mental health support for students; and prevention of bullying.

The Hawaii teachers union over the years has called multiple times for safe schools, and last year its delegates passed a position saying that students and teachers have the right to school settings “free of unauthorized guns and other deadly weapons.”

For parents concerned about whether their children are safe on campus, the HSTA’s Tui said: “I think the message for them is that teachers will do everything they can in their power, and sometimes, you know, give their lives for these students, to makes sure they’re safe and secure.

“But for educators and school personnel, they need to make sure they ask their administrators, ‘Hey, what can we do? What are you going to provide for us to make sure we can keep our students safe in any type of situation?’” Tui continued. “They need to ask, and ask right away, because you never know when this (a shooting) is going to happen.”

REPORTING SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY

>> If there is an immediate emergency, call your local police department or 911.

>> If you witness someone saying or doing something that suggests they might harm themselves or others in the future, call police or speak promptly with an appropriate authority — a school principal or a work supervisor, for instance.

>> Don’t stay silent. “School safety is a continual community effort,” said a statement from the state Department of Education. “We definitely encourage students, staff and community members to remain vigilant and speak up immediately if they see or hear anything that could pose a threat to our school communities, whether in person, online or on social media.”

>> The Hawaii State Fusion Center focuses mainly on stopping counterterrorism and cybersecurity. To report suspicious activity, go to hawaiifusioncenter.org or email hsfc@hawaii.gov. Describe what you observed, including who or what you saw; date, time and location; and why it’s suspicious. Include contact information so that officials can follow up.