CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is distributing 11,000 safety bags to its classrooms and offices, which would help aid victims of an active shooter.
The bags contain tools to help barricade doors, break windows and staunch heavy bleeding.
The effort, new to CMS this year, is the culmination of five years of training on the ABCs of survival — avoid, barricade and counter.
CMS police detective Wes Eubank, a veteran of Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, said he is glad they are giving the tools to teachers and other staff after years of training.
“What we’ve done this year for CMS, is given them the tools, that I’ve already been teaching for the last five years to be able to implement into the classroom,” Eubank said outside the district’s main office. “So, what we have is a bag that will go in every single classroom. It has a quick reference card that has everything in it. It has the barricading devices we have been teaching, and it also has the bleeding control devices.”
Before the school year began, Eubank trained more than 12,000 of CMS’ 19,000-plus staff members on how to use the equipment.
“Knowing how to barricade a door, and then, heaven forbid, we ever need to use the medical supplies for bleeding control. Every teacher, every employee, has been taught by me,” Eubank said.
More training sessions will continue this school year, while other staff members received training this past spring. After retiring from CMPD, Eubank said he saw a need for this type of training in churches and schools, so he took the job with CMS in 2018.
“It was a no-brainer,” Eubank recalled. “Why not try and save lives? Especially in a district as big as CMS, you know? We’re looking at 141,000 students, roughly 19,500 staff members. These people need to know what to do.”
Later Wednesday, Eubank continued to deliver bags to schools in the district. The bags themselves are a stark reminder of the realities of back-to-school preparation in modern America.
“I taught a [CMS] board member several years back who said, ‘I hate you’re teaching this class, but I’m glad you’re here teaching it,’” Eubank said. “It is one of those bittersweet things. I wish I didn’t have to do this, but I’m glad I’m here doing it.”