While Hawaii has never experienced a deliberate school shooting, education officials still plan for every type of emergency and say they will review their procedures in the wake of Friday’s shooting rampage at a Connecticut elementary school.
Mark Behrens, acting director of the Department of Education’s safety, security and emergency preparedness branch, said school administrators regularly undergo training to prepare themselves — and their students — for emergencies, including violence on campus.
Behrens met with Honolulu Police Department officials Friday to begin discussions over whether any security measures need to be reviewed following the Connecticut shooting.
Twenty-eight people, including 20 children, died in the rampage.
Schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi, who was traveling, said in a statement Friday that all of Hawaii’s public schools have emergency procedures in place.
She called the school shooting "incomprehensible."
Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha told reporters Friday that police have been trained to respond to shootings at schools, shopping malls and other public places, "so we have certain contingency plans already in place, and it’s always being refined."
He said patrol division commanders have been notified to be prepared in the event of a copycat incident.
Kealoha added he believes Hawaii’s strict gun control laws have contributed to the state’s low rates of violent crime compared with other states.
Behrens said Hawaii is one of 12 states that has never experienced a deliberate school shooting.
Last year an eighth-grade Pearl Highlands Intermediate student brought to campus a handgun that accidentally fired while he was showing it to friends. The bullet hit a rock wall, and fragments struck a 14-year-old boy, slightly injuring him.
The incident was rare at a Hawaii school.
The vast majority of "firearms" incidents at Hawaii campuses over the last decade have involved air guns.
There were no incidents involving guns in the 2010-11 school year.
In previous years the state saw one or two cases in which students took handguns to schools.
Meda Chesney-Lind, a criminologist and University of Hawaii women’s studies professor who has studied safety procedures at Hawaii schools, said the Connecticut school shooting highlights the importance of training and preparedness.
"You have to plan for really grim and rare incidents," she said. "If you can’t predict the event, then you have to harden the target."
Chesney-Lind said it appears Hawaii schools have done that — instituting safety protocols, beefing up training and holding regular drills to prepare for the worst.
Lockdown drills, for example, have been an annual requirement for Hawaii schools for years.
During a lockdown, teachers lock classrooms and turn off the lights. Students are directed to move away from windows and get up against walls until they receive the "all clear."
Many Hawaii schools have initiated the emergency procedure because of incidents near campuses. A number of high schools have also gone into lockdown, including in recent weeks, because of fighting on campus.
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Star-Advertiser staff writer Marcie Kagawa contributed to this report.
