NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — What teachers did at The Covenant School to keep so many students safe during the mass shooting was truly extraordinary.
Just ask the former police officer who trained them one year before the active shooter attack.
"The teachers and their performance that day really are the story, and the reason why all the kids went home that did go home," said Brink Fidler.
Brink Fidler is the founder and president of Defend Systems. The company offers active shooter training to schools, businesses, churches and other organizations. The program is hands-on and includes pre-hospital trauma care.
"These things happen so fast. You have to know what to do in those first critical few minutes, not just hide and wait for law enforcement," Fidler said.
Some of the decisions that Covenant staff members made are now even part of Defend Systems' program.
"One [teacher] in particular that really resonates with me, she was outside, heard gunfire, moved to the corner of the building, then paused there and waited until she heard a break in the gunfire which she thought was probably a reload of some sort, and that's when she worked her way across a small open area and made her way down through the woods," Fidler said.
Next week, Defend Systems is sharing the active shooter training with Metro teachers.
After the Covenant shooting, roughly ten Metro Schools asked Defend Systems to come train their teachers. A Metro Schools spokesperson said a PTSO can sponsor staff, but the training has to be off-site and done on the teacher's own time.
In Middle Tennessee, we're fortunate that some school districts, like Metro Nashville Public Schools, partner with local police to train school employees on how to respond in case of an emergency.
The four-hour supplemental, open-enrollment teacher training, including lunch. It will be at Asurion Headquarters on Church Street in Nashville from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Teachers can reserve a spot at schoolsafetyseminar.com.
