On Monday, March 25, parents and staff met with Deputy Brandon Schaefer of the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office for a civilian response to active shooter events (CRASE) meeting. The meeting focused on disaster response and how to prepare for and respond to extreme situations. In addition, attendees were also taught the steps to assist law enforcement to limit casualties.

“I had heard from parents and teachers who had already been to the presentation that it was valuable to them,” parent Sandi Bone said. “I also wanted to go because I felt unprepared if I was ever in an emergency situation and wanted to know what I should do.”

Videos of events that resulted in high casualties were shown to demonstrate different responses to high stress situations, such as phone calls from Columbine and from the Station Nightclub fire. They then discussed the correct way to act in such situations, using the strategy ‘avoid, deny, defend.’ Beyond this, the correlation between heart rate and motor skills and how stress impairs mental functioning was also discussed.

“The best way to invest in our community is to provide all of the information that we can,”  Schaefer said.

Schaefer is the first deputy to specialize in domestic safety and has begun a self defense academy to help youths, which you can access through the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. Through this, young women can learn how to defend themselves and people of all ages can learn how to respond to high stress events.

“Inaction leads to the loss of life,” Schaefer said. “And that’s what we’re trying to get away from.”