Emergency crews practice at school 'under siege'

By Bill Kirk

The scene at Sunnyside Elementary School last Thursday brought an April tragedy in Littleton, Colo., to mind.

There were students lying on school grounds and classroom floors. Helmeted and bulletproof-vested officers with weapons moved cautiously in groups behind protective shields or provided cover from nearby refuges like woods and ditches. Ambulances waited for transport duties, as did a school bus. Youths were escorted from the building, as well as three adults blamed for all the activity.

The most important difference between the local event and shootings at Colorado's Columbine High School this spring is that the action here wasn't real. Thursday's incident northeast of Ellsworth was actually a drill enabling law enforcement, emergency personnel, school and River Falls Area Hospital staff to practice for the possibility of a school "under siege."

Ellsworth Schools' Curriculum Director Mike Perkins explained the preplanned scenario as authorities arrived outside Sunnyside Elementary. A vehicle was said to have dropped off three adults portraying "shooters," who "fired" at students playing on the adjacent ball field. School officials phoned for help; a sheriff's dispatcher reported "hostages" had been taken on the south side of the building.

Approximately 30 student-volunteers assumed "injured" or "dead" positions on the lawn around the school, on the ball field and in rooms inside the building. The youths of varying ages wore make-up arranged by the sheriff's department to simulate wounds. Perkins said most of the students are from the Ellsworth area, although several came from River Falls.

Sheriff's officers, the first authorities to respond, tended to those they'd determined were the most seriously "injured." The officers also assessed the situation, preparing for a command post to be set up at the site. Sheriff's officials later emphasized while this operations center was stationed out front of the school for drill purposes, it likely would have been more distant in an actual emergency.

Ambulance technicians, soon on the scene, found students who'd been "shot." They treated the "injured"