San Bernardino school district looks forward to improve emergency response

More than 100 people -- teachers, parents, police officers, even IT workers -- attended a meeting convened by the San Bernadino Unified School District to debrief on its response to the Dec. 2 shooting.

Superintendent Dale Marsden said the goal of the "after-action review" was to give the community a chance present issues without judgment and determine what could be better.

"It's these kind of activities that help us to become better," said Marsden. "Our goal in the district is to be the best at becoming better."

During the meeting, attendees sat at tables sharing stories from the day of the shooting. 

Alba Lizbeth Barraza, the secretary at Dominguez Elementary School, shared her experience. The school is less than two miles from the site of the shooting at the Inland Regional Center. The shootout with the gunmen happened right behind the school. 

The small groups were tasked with coming up with streamlined recommendations to present to the group. Barraza shared on behalf of her table. 

"Our children and staff heard and saw every police car that went by there," she said, holding back tears. 

Despite the proximity to the scene, Barraza said the school was told by the district not to go on lockdown at first. But with all of the commotion, the school administration made the decision to do so anyway. Barraza urged the district to be more responsive when a school is so close to a dangerous scene. 

The district is taking note of each issue to improve systems going forward and to ensure the highest level of safety during emergencies. 

"We’re hoping that we never have to use this again," said SBUSD deputy superintendent Harold Vollkommer, "but if we should be faced with that again we want to be better at it."