Early this school year, WAHS administration sent out a video to students and parents about the new active shooter training, called ALICE, that they would be implementing starting this year. The video and a homeroom presentation were the only direct sources of information students received about the new training, and many were left confused about the change.
At its most basic level, ALICE is a type of active shooter training that “gives the staff more control over a situation where we have no control,” according to counselor Olivia LeMay.
It stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate. Staff are meant to alert and inform the rest of the school about a possible attacker, their location and movement, and any other pertinent details; evacuate if they are able and get to a safe location; lockdown the classroom by locking and barricading any doors and windows if it is unsafe to evacuate; and, if there are no other options, counter by attacking the intruder.
“The concept of ALICE is to create a nonlinear protocol. It’s not as if it’s step one, step two, step three. It’s more developing a toolkit of skills and awareness to be able to respond in a more common sense approach to something like a violent intruder,” principal Jennifer Sublette explained.
Previously, the protocol for possible threats was to lock classroom doors, turn off the lights, and sit silently until the threat leaves or law enforcement authorities arrive.
“In the past when we’ve done active shooter drills, [we] just barricade the door and get in a corner… with ALICE, it gives you the option to flee if it’s safe,” English teacher RobinAnn Apicella said.
Locking doors reduces victims by less than 25%, according to a study by Purdue University, and around 60% of active shooter incidents between 2000 and 2013 ended before law enforcement arrived, according to a study by the FBI.
In the 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde Texas, police did not act for 77 minutes, according to a Justice Department report in January.
In other cases, such as in the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia in September, law enforcement reacted quickly and were able to bring the shooter into custody, according to CNN.
Even so, ALICE offers another option in case law enforcement are unable or unwilling to step in. Government and leadership teacher Molly Miracle explained one advantage in contrast to previous methods. “I like the idea that we’re going to try to get real-time information, instead of this unknown… not knowing exactly where the person might be,” she said.
To be best prepared for the the complex and “nonlinear” nature of the protocol, staff underwent an hours-long training during the summer of 2023, which included both an online portion to “frame philosophically the approach” of ALICE training and an in-person situational training to “give people a sense of confidence and competence,” Sublette said.
LeMay, who was trained ahead of time and could assist in the school-wide training, noted a feeling of confidence after both trainings that she participated in. “Knowing that we could do something else, if that feels like the best route, is very empowering,” she said, comparing ALICE to previous protocols.
However, Miracle expressed concern that “I don’t think I’m going to feel funny confident until we do more of those types of things with our students, because the teacher knowing what to do can only get you so far.”
Currently, students are not being trained, and there are no immediate or long-term plans to train the entire student body. Sublette noted that some students have come forward in search of training, but cited concerns for students’ mental health as the main reason for the lack of across-the-board training.
“We don’t want to traumatize students,” she said. “But at the same time, I think a lot of students understand the reality of not just their current complexity of school, but also the world in which they’re about to become adults, and so see this [ALICE training] as something valuable.”
“I definitely think it impacts everyone in different ways… [students] are going to have things going on that are going to impact how they view [the ALICE training],” LeMay added, stressing the need to take students’ mental health into account.
While a lack of training could protect students’ mental health, some teachers, such as Miracle, espouse the idea of training students as well.
“If the shooter were to get into the room, to know that you [the student] were allowed to throw things at them or allowed to try to disarm [them],” would be helpful, according to Apicella. “Having the training allows you to act with authority, knowing ‘okay, this is one of the strategies I could use to disarm or distract the attacker.’”
As the situation lies now, Sublette said students should trust that ALICE is “well thought-out and well researched, and that their teacher and other staff members in the building have received that training, and that they can feel confident in following the directions… of the adult that they happen to be with.”
