Oakland schools train for active shooters

The Oakland Unified School District is conducting active shooter training Friday, two days after a gunman killed 17 people at a high school in Florida on Wednesday.

The district said the training had been planned for several months but is even more critical now in the wake of the shooting in Florida.

The training is taking place at Cole Elementary School in West Oakland.

School officials said educators from across the district are being trained in active shooter response as part of the school crisis response training series administered in partnership with DPREP, Inc., a Folsom company that provides training and consulting services for disaster preparation and emergency response.

District officials said the training will prepare their staff to deal with an active shooter situation by raising awareness of everything from pre-incident indicators and characteristics of active shooters to how active shooters typically choose their targets and what to do immediately after an incident begins on campus.

The district said its goal is to ensure all staff members are better prepared to protect students and themselves in case a gunman ever comes to an Oakland school.