Montgomery Catholic Holds Live School Emergency Preparedness Exercise

Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School hosted a planned live school emergency preparedness exercise in Montgomery on July 30, bringing the school’s faculty and staff together with law enforcement, emergency services, hospitals and 911 personnel.

The exercise was training, not an actual shooting, attack or emergency. Its purpose was to let school employees and outside responders practice coordinating under a worst-case scenario before a real crisis occurs.

Months of planning

The Montgomery City/County Emergency Management Agency coordinated or participated in the exercise, which took approximately six to eight months to plan, according to the local report and EMA Director Wade Lyles.

Lyles said Montgomery Catholic requested an active-shooter preparedness exercise to execute the school’s emergency plan and determine what participants could learn from the process. The City of Montgomery describes the EMA’s role as planning for hazards, reducing their effects and coordinating emergency response and recovery.

Faculty and staff participated

Montgomery Catholic’s entire faculty and staff were on campus for the exercise. School President Justin Castanza said the school conducts similar exercises regularly, but this was the first live exercise that brought in outside law-enforcement agencies and first responders.

That made the July 30 event different from an internal school drill: personnel practiced alongside the agencies they would rely on during a real emergency.

No documented findings yet

Castanza said the exercise was not intended to assign blame or point to specific wrongdoing. He described the goal as giving teachers and faculty practical resources to respond as effectively as possible if a real crisis occurred.

The published report did not identify specific operational failures, policy changes or follow-up deadlines. Any after-action findings, revised procedures or additional training guidance would be the next significant update for Montgomery Catholic families and participating agencies.

Sources

• WAKA Action 8: Active shooter drill held at Montgomery Catholic School
• City of Montgomery: Emergency Management Agency
• Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School