Local teachers learn how to fend off attackers in their classrooms

Detroit Threat Management spend day at Detroit Community School

DETROIT – Friday was a different kind of learning day at Detroit Community School on the city's west side.

Detroit Threat Management staff was there to train and educate school staff how to make their school an attack-free zone.

No students were present for the training.

The training comes in the wake of the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut.

DTM found Dale Brown said one of the most important things educations should remember is that they can make their schools safer without putting guns inside them.

"There's a much higher probability that a violent criminal could enter a school and take the gun from the school teacher than there is the school teacher themselves would be able to use this gun in a realistic fashion to defend themselves," Brown said.

Brown said in many mass shootings, intruders fire at close range.  So, he showed the teachers how to grab guns to keep them from firing.

"Just being in a school environment, I never thought you would need this type of training," said kindergarten teacher Terena Rice.

But others said they welcome the training.

"Protection is needed with the terrorism that's going on in the neighborhoods and the city," said Del Humphrey, who works in Student Support Services.

Superintendent Sharon McPhail said the training also helps teachers defend themselves against violent students.

"We need to empower them to feel like they can manage their classroom and not to be afraid of students. We do have some students who will attack a teacher," McPhail said.