Preparing everyone for the worst: Pasco company offers shooter response training focused on schools

Clients have long clamored for the latest online training course offered by a Pasco software developer, company officials say.

But some at Vivid Learning Systems also felt a moral obligation to provide the course, said spokesman Barrett Pryce — because school shootings aren’t going away anytime soon.

The course, designed to train someone how to react when a shooter shows up at school, work or home, recently launched and became available for free via Vivid’s website at learnatvivid.com.

It uses the company’s tried-and-true approach of using expert testimonials interspersed with activities, such as demonstrating how guns used in television and movies sound different than those used in reality.

The testimonials are from two people who experienced the 1996 shooting at Moses Lake’s Frontier Middle School — former teacher Jon Lane, who tackled 14-year-old student Barry Dale Loukaitis after he shot and killed a teacher and two students, and Chris Collier, a Vivid employee who was a freshman at the time in the adjoined Moses Lake High School.

“Some may think it’s taboo,” Collier said of the training course. “Whether you’re pro gun or not, this does happen and it’s going to continue to happen.”

Training, particularly for teachers and school staff, has become commonplace in school districts and higher education institutions in the decades since the Moses Lake shooting and in the wake of numerous other gun violence tragedies around the country.

Pryce said Vivid’s training is meant for everyone, particularly students who he said are often relegated to looking to adults to know what to do.

“We have parents here and they were some of the loudest voices wanting this done,” he said.

Some officials with Tri-City districts and college campuses said they’d be interested in seeing what Vivid’s course has to offer.

But most said they are otherwise confident in the efforts they’ve taken, along with local law enforcement, to prevent shootings.

“We are always working to improve and enhance school safety, and it’s something we’ll look at,” said Randy Nunamaker, the Pasco School District’s executive director of operations. “We always want to make sure any training is in compliance with the procedures of our first responders.”

Schools a high-risk workplace?

Vivid has been in business for about 20 years producing training segments for workers in high-risk fields such as mining, manufacturing and utility work.

CEO Matt Hammer said the company has always sought to provide more than a video you queue up for an employee that isn’t usually engaging. That led to the use of testimonials and interactive activities, as well as quizzes and tests.

“Whatever we can do to grab someone’s attention and hold it,” Hammer said.

Pryce said the company had long wanted to develop an active shooter training course, as workplace shootings in general have become a greater concern for employers. But the company struggled to find appropriate experts for the project.

The shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon last fall prompted him and others to push the project through and to make it available for free.

“We saw a real opportunity to do some good in the world,” Pryce said.

The training focuses on developing situational awareness, explaining how brain chemistry and wiring affects how many respond to dangerous circumstances and how to respond in such a scenario.

It does offer some criticism of the “run, hide, fight” approach frequently taught as part of active shooter training courses, as that teaches a mentality rooted in fear rather than sound decision-making, Pryce said.

Vivid officials know educators take safety seriously and acknowledge that many schools do extensive work with law enforcement and in training staff, they said. But more needs to be done to fully prepare students.

“Why not just do this as part of an orientation?” Pryce suggested.

Safety a priority, but so is collaboration

Tri-City school officials point to their frequent collaboration with law enforcement as evidence of their dedication to securing schools against a shooter or similar threat.

Kennewick conducted a live training session at Cottonwood Elementary School this spring. Pasco officials pointed to a recent lockdown at McGee Elementary School as a demonstration of the district’s preparedness.

All Tri-City districts perform regular “tabletop” exercises and other training sessions with administrators and teachers. That’s on top of infrastructure improvements, such as extensive surveillance camera systems and “security foyers” in newer and remodeled schools that require visitors to be buzzed in by school staff.

Vivid’s training could become part of some district’s training regimen, some district officials said, but they wouldn’t necessarily say if it would be required for students. Any new training is reviewed for months and input from law enforcement is heavily considered.

“I think we’re always looking at ways to better prepare our schools and our staff,” said Jack Anderson, the Kennewick School District’s student services director.

Anderson’s concern is “the program could counter what’s been taught to Kennewick students previously, creating a safety issue,” he said.

Law enforcement does do live training at Washington State University Tri-Cities that is required for staff, but optional for students.

University spokesman Jeffrey Dennison said administrators are pleased with the efforts on campus to prepare for any crisis.

“We’re definitely not ignoring the issue,” he said.

Columbia Basin College offered numerous training sessions last fall, including a video and a question-and-answer session with a law enforcement official, said Tyrone Brooks, the college’s vice president for administrative services.

While not required of students, many attended alongside faculty and college staff.

Brooks is aware of Vivid’s latest training course and “intrigued by what (Vivid) is trying to do,” he said.

But he couldn’t comment on whether the college would use the program, as he hadn’t seen it in action.

‘We saw a need’

There is a discomfort that comes with confronting the reality of school shootings head-on, Pryce said, but that doesn’t diminish the need for something like what the company is offering.

“That’s the world we’re living in now,” Pryce said. “The best way to characterize it is we saw a need.”

For Collier’s part, he plans to have his two stepsons — one a high school student, the other in grade school — take the course. However, he acknowledged it will be difficult to sit through it with them.

“Even 20 years later it still gets to me,” he said.

This story was originally published May 29, 2016 at 7:38 PM with the headline "Preparing everyone for the worst: Pasco company offers shooter response training focused on schools."