23 ABC reached out to several local high school's in Kern County. We found out Bakersfield Christian High School hosted an active shooter drill Friday.
When we talked with school officials they told us Friday's drill was one of six preparedness drills the school practices. They practice two lockdown drills, two natural disaster drills and two active shooter drills.
BCHS head of security, Craig Porter, said, “You just have to be ready for anything. You just don’t know what’s going to happen whether it’s a fire, earthquake or active shooter.”
Schools have traditionally practiced natural disaster safety drills, but for the past seven years ago Craig Porter has been in charge of BCHS’s active shooter drills. And school president John Buetow believes preparation is their best defense.
“You never want to be an alarmist and you don’t want student to be scared to go to school, but you also want to be prepared and if anything happens you know you’ve done the best that you can as a school administration to make sure your students are safe,” said Buetow.
During the drill students went to their safe spaces. While BCHS told us not to say where their safe spaces are, Porter said almost every location has at least two locked doors between the students and where the intruder might be.
“Usually an active shooter is going to want to find the easiest target. If they don’t have an easy target they’ll move on to somewhere else. So we hope to discourage them from even looking because they can’t see anything," said Porter.
The drill ended with the students filing out from one exit point per building with their hands on their heads before gathering in a central point.
And parents I talked with say, they like the idea that BCHS is taking the time to prepare for the worst.
BCHS Parent, Rachel Friesen, said, “I am glad our school is doing it because you can never be too prepared. And I think it’s better to have a plan of action than chaos.”
Alice Abril, is a parent of a student and works at BCHS. She said, “It’s tragic to think that our children have to think about that. It’s definitely not on the top list any parent would want for their child, but at the end of the day we do want them prepared for all life situations.”
Porter said, while the school can’t be prepared from every disaster, having a solid base will help should the worst happen
