Great Falls Schools Provide District-Wide 'Armed Intruder Training'

GREAT FALLS – In an effort to increase school safety, all campuses in the Great Falls Public Schools (GFPS) district will be closed on Friday, November 1, 2024 for an extensive armed intruder training program. This training, a partnership between GFPS and the Great Falls Police Department (GFPD), has been held annually for the past ten years.

Armed Intruder Training at Great Falls Schools

Detective Sergeant Katie Cunningham of the GFPD explained, “Today we conducted district-wide training on armed intruders. This is a program we have offered for the past 10 years.”

The training, which involved 1,250 personnel at 20 locations, aimed to equip faculty and staff with the skills to respond to an active shooter threat.

During the day-long training, a typical six-hour program was reduced to three hours, allowing all GFPS employees to complete the curriculum in one day. Campuses, playgrounds and facilities were closed from 8am to 3:30pm and only authorized personnel were allowed on site.

The training was designed to teach staff practical skills, including securing classrooms and providing emergency medical care.

Cunningham noted that the sessions included “a lecture portion on what the reason for this training is and why we need it,” as well as real-world scenarios in which participants learned barricade techniques, secondary locking methods and basic medical interventions such as applying chest exercises. seals and rapid clots for gunshot wounds.

Participants performed simulated scenarios at Great Falls High School, with staff experiencing four different emergency situations.

The training included exposure to sounds of gunfire from multiple calibers to help personnel identify and respond to potential threats.

“Multiple weapons of different calibers – what that would sound like, what you might not hear at all – and how to address your class,” Cunningham described.

The training was designed to enable personnel to make quick decisions in high-stress situations, and provide guidance on barricading, fleeing or, as a last resort, defending.

“It’s really an empowering moment for a lot of these teachers,” Cunningham said. “They understand that they are given permission to keep their students and themselves safe and alive.”

The district plans to continue offering these crucial training sessions to maintain a safe learning environment for students and staff.