Authorities and all district employees walked through how they would respond in a real life situation, if there were ever a shooter on the school campus.
"We are here teaching the Clarksville School District what they can do to increase their chances of surviving a lethal force encounter here at the school using the 'Alice' concept: Alert, lockdown, inform, counter, escape," said Sgt. Robert Sanchez with Springdale Police.
Sanchez explained to the staff that taking a more proactive approach can save lives in these types of situations.
The first thing staff should do if an active shooter enters their school is evacuate and get out of danger, Sanchez says.
If evacuating is not an option, Sanchez says teachers then need to be prepared to defend themselves and their children.
“Go into your room and barricade that room as much as possible,” he said. “If the active shooter breaches your barricade, you need to plan on defending yourself instead of trying to hide and beg for mercy.”
"What [this drill] does is it is designed to make you start thinking about possible scenarios that could happen," said Clarksville Superintendent Dr. David Hopkins. "It allows you to work through these scenarios in your mind so that at least you've thought about it, at least you don't lock up because you don't have a plan."
Hopkins says they had this drill planned for quite some time and it isn't in response to their plans for armed staff members being put on hold.
"We're going to do everything we can to take care of our kids," Hopkins said.
The Arkansas Board of Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies decided Wednesday (Aug. 14) to suspend the licenses of school staff and faculty members registered with the state as “security personnel.” The program will be suspended for two months. The board is expected to discuss whether to permanently revoke the licenses at their next meeting.