After only four days, all the spots were filled and a waitlist was formed for the Utah County Sheriff’s Office’s Teachers Academy program.

The program, conducted by Sheriff Mike Smith and other UCSO members, will train 30 participants — who work in education as teachers, administrators, librarians and more –how to handle an active shooter incident.

“We have a lot of involvement in training for active shooters,” Sgt. Spencer Cannon said. “You see it in the news, and they happen far too often. It’s a big concern, and we want to know what we can do to keep them from happening in the first place. We don’t want to just be reactionary. We want to be prepared to prevent them from happening.”

While the school year is coming to a close for Utah County students, the training comes on the heels of another mass school shooting in the United States. On Tuesday, an 18-year-old killed at least 18 children, as of Tuesday evening, at a Texas elementary school.

The Utah County training typically happens twice a year, so applicants who didn’t enroll in time should have another opportunity.

“When we made the announcement, there were 15 people on the list already. When a class is over if there are people who submitted an application but there wasn’t room Sheriff Smith kept them on the list for the next event. So, while there were 30 slots for the class, there were only 15 spots available,” Cannon said.

UCSO previously tried expanding the course to 60 participants, but discovered it was too many people during the hands-on training classes.

“It was quite difficult to manage that, so we cut it back down to 30 people,” Cannon said. “The range day for example, managing 60 people would have been difficult, so they split them into two groups. We would love to be able to do it more often, but we have limitations. Everyone that participates who are also instructors have regular assignments to handle as well.”

Six classes will be spread out over the course of six weeks. Five classes will occur every Tuesday, for five weeks, beginning June 7. The sixth and final class will be Saturday, July 9. Tuesday classes will run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and the live fire range day will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

According to a UCSO press release, topics covered during the course will include tactical emergency medical techniques, weapons familiarization, Utah Concealed Carry Certification, VirTra simulator training, tactical de-escalation, self-defense and a live fire range day.

Cannon said the training will help educators answer these questions: What do I do with the kids in my class? What’s the best way to protect them? What if a shooter gets into my class? Should I look for a route to escape, or do I try and barricade my room?

He added that part of the program will be a Stop the Bleed course. Stop the Bleed is used to educate individuals on immediate first-aid in an emergency situation.

“The training also includes a simulator where you get a live video training simulation, and it is reactive to how you respond. It’s very popular,” Cannon said.

Cannon said there should be another Teachers Academy program sometime during the fall.

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