Northside ISD to show Run, Hide, Fight video to students

District video shows how to respond to an active shooter situation

SAN ANTONIO – The Northside Independent School District created a video for students, staff and the community about how to respond to an active shooter situation. 

“If you have an option to run, run, get away from that situation. If you find yourself that you're not able to get away, then hide. Find a good hiding spot and hide from that shooter. If that's not an option, fight, fight for your life,” NISD Police Chief Charlie Carnes said. 

Carnes has been working at the district for 25 years and said the video allows parents to bring up this topic. 

“Talk to them about this video give them reassurance that their school is safe but give them a resource that if there is a situation what do I do so they can carry that with them. Talk to them every day know who their friends are. Be involved in their life be involved in their school,” Carnes said. 

The school district will show the video to middle and high school students this school year. School officials said campus principals will be sending home letters alerting parents to the video being shown. Each NISD campus will determine exactly when and how the video will be shown. 

The concept for the Run, Hide, Fight training has been in the works for about a year. 

NISD officials said the concept and video were vetted through the District’s Safety 7 Security Committee, which consists of staff, students and parents. NISD also hosted several focus groups to view the video and training materials. 

“No matter whether an active shooter occurs in another state even another part of the world, it affects us. And it concerns us and we here at North Side want to protect our children, our students, our staff, our visitors, anybody that comes onto our property,” Carnes said. 

Carnes said they have training and meetings throughout the year. Plus over 7,500 cameras in the school and over 100 commissioned police officers. 

School district officials said they also have a 24-hour, 7 days a week Safeline that allows for anonymous reporting of anything community members, parents, staff or students might feel is concerning. Reports go straight to the police dispatch who is then able to immediately assign officers to investigate. 

The principal of O’Connor High School Jackie Horras said staff who has seen the video had mixed reactions. 

“As educators, we hate to think about that our society has gotten to a point that we have to have this video. And so, there is a little bit of that, but I think there was also a lot of relief of having some strategies that they can share with students and educate students about,” Horras said. 

NISD officials said because of the nature of the video, NISD counselors were on hand to brief and debrief all students and adults who participated in the making of the video. 

Horras said they are working with counselors, too. 

“We've already been working with our counselors to have a plan in place because we know that students may react differently to the videos,” Horras said. 


About the Authors:

Tiffany Huertas is a reporter for KSAT 12 known for her in-depth storytelling and her involvement with the community.

Jason Foster is an executive producer at KSAT. He's worked in the news industry in Texas for more than 15 years, including as a photojournalist, and been at KSAT since 2015.