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Steamboat Springs schools run large-scale active-shooter and reunification exercise at high school
Summary
District staff, law enforcement and regional partners ran a full-scale active-shooter drill at Steamboat Springs High School with more than 100 participants to test lockdown, triage and reunification procedures; district leaders said monthly evacuation drills and quarterly lockdowns remain required by the state.
Steamboat Springs — District facilities manager Pascal Genesta told the school board on Aug. 25 that a large-scale active-shooter exercise held at Steamboat Springs High School involved more than 100 staff and first responders and tested both immediate response and family reunification procedures.
Genesta said the exercise "took about 6 months to put it all together" and included law enforcement, sheriff, police, EMS and hospital partners. He said the exercise used blanks and staged injured people with makeup and triage tags so EMS could practice triage and transport.
Board members and administrators said the drill produced important lessons. Genesta said the district currently has about 40 people trained in reunification and the exercise exposed many staff who had not previously experienced the process. "It was a huge success," he said, adding that smaller-scale rehearsals could continue more frequently.
Why it matters: Genesta and others emphasized that realistic practice improves response under stress and helps the district refine coordination with law enforcement and medical partners. Genesta also reminded the board that state rules require monthly evacuation drills and four lockdown drills per year, and said the first drills occur during the first two weeks of school.
During discussion, board member Cresta noted that the exercise revealed how staff must "react quickly because something didn't go as planned," praising the realism Genesta and emergency partners created. Others said the law-enforcement and EMS participation provided valuable cross-agency learning: one board member pointed out EMS were able to triage immediately and move simulated patients as part of the drill.
Genesta said the district may not run a full-day scenario every year because of the effort involved but expects to continue reunification training and periodic large-scale exercises, perhaps every two to three years, with smaller rehearsals in between. He also described a technical hiccup in the drill — a card-reader/transponder issue with a responding officer's vehicle — that created an unplanned response scenario and underscored the value of unanticipated glitches during a realistic exercise.
The board did not take a formal vote on the drill; members asked staff to continue refining reunification and emergency response training and to coordinate future exercises with regional emergency management.
Ending: District officials said they will keep working with Rock County Emergency Management and local first responders to expand reunification training and to incorporate lessons from this exercise into staff training and building security work.
