The most important responsibility that a school district holds is that of keeping the students, teachers and staff safe. Because of the increase in workplace and school shootings, this is an area of responsibility that has intensified and our response needs to be stronger than ever before.
This article will serve as the first in a two-part series of articles where I will detail actions that Brown County Schools is taking over the summer to increase our school safety policies, practices and procedures for school year 2018-19.
Should this information be of continued interest, I am hosting my first Community Conversation on Aug. 23 at 6 p.m. at Brown County High School where I will be addressing school safety as the monthly topic. All are welcome to attend.
Today, I will describe one of our most comprehensive strategies for response, the adoption of an active shooter training response protocol named “ALICE.” ALICE is an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. Prior to ALICE, lockdown procedures involved our staff locking their doors, moving the students to a part of the room where they could not be seen, and quietly remaining there until an “all clear” announcement was given.
The ALICE plan offers a different philosophy from the traditional lockdown strategy that we used before, and it is the same protocol that was actively deployed by science teacher Jason Seaman in the recent Noblesville West Middle School shooting. The philosophy of ALICE is to use technology and information in an intentional way so that staff and students can make informed decisions in a crisis that will, if possible, get them away from the danger zone, and provide realistic training so that those involved in a crisis have a much better chance of surviving.
We trained all employees of Brown County Schools in the ALICE active shooter protocol during Phase One of the district certification training process during April and May of last school year. Phase Two takes place this summer, where 50 individuals from the schools, local law enforcement, juvenile justice, emergency management, behavioral health and the school safety commission will be trained as “trainers” of the ALICE protocol. This training will allow for all participants to bring the comprehensive training back to their locations and train everyone at the location/department they represent. As a result, we will have a comprehensive active shooter training model deployed across our community.
Students will witness the ALICE protocol being taught and implemented during the first few weeks of school. Training will be delivered in age-appropriate, kid-friendly language at the elementary schools by their teachers and the junior high and high school students will receive training from their teachers and law enforcement officers. Drills and practices will follow throughout the school year after all the students are initially trained. Drills will look different from our traditional lockdown drills that have been deployed during previous school years.
We chose ALICE for our district certification because of their research-based methodology and evidence of results. The ALICE response is a proactive, options-based approach that empowers individuals to make decisions according to their experience when a crisis occurs. While the ALICE acronym is used to make the responses easier to remember, it is not sequential or linear. Students and staff are trained to notice the situation they are in and are then trained on the best responses for each situation. ALICE is a strategy of empowerment as opposed to passive response.
While the ALICE plan is one that is heralded as the best active-shooter protocol that can be adopted by a school corporation, it is important to understand that it is just one tool in a much broader toolkit that creates our comprehensive school safety plan. We have added a very strong tool with the adoption of the ALICE protocol, and have additional tools that are also being added for deployment in school year 2018-2019. These will be outlined in my next column.
Should you be interested in learning more about the ALICE active shooter training protocol and the district certification model that Brown County Schools is pursuing, please visit alicetraining.com I am also more than willing to answer any questions that you might have about this strategy. Please give me a call at 812-988-6601 or send me an email at [email protected]. Your support is so appreciated.
Laura Hammack is superintendent of Brown County schools. She can be reached at 812-988-6601 or [email protected].
