School Safety Strategies for Catholic Schools

As school safety expert, Dr. Allison Willemin put it, “Hope alone is not a good strategy.”

School safety is no longer a public-school-only concern. Gun-related incidents have nearly doubled as a share of school violence in just two years—growing from 17.9% to 30.8%, making it clear—school safety is not a public-school-only concern.

In Preparing Your Catholic School Community for the Unthinkable, Dr. Willemin—VP of School Safety Strategy at Navigate360—and George Hunter, Director of ALICE Training and a 27-year law enforcement veteran, explored what true school readiness looks like in action.

They explained why lockdown-only plans leave gaps, how to train your entire community (from the young to the elderly), and what emergency planning looks like in a faith-based setting.

For Catholic schools, safety and security go beyond the classroom to the parish, the open-door church, and Mass during the week. Hunter explained that situational awareness is a life skill, one that helps students and staff feel safe: during worship, in class, or walking down the street.

As George Hunter says, “You’re gonna react to the level of your training.”

Lockdown-Only Leaves Dangerous Gaps

The Grand Blanc Michigan church shooting proved lockdown-only plans leave dangerous gaps. The incident involved arson, requiring people to exit the building, something a barricaded would’ve blocked.

Instead, an options-based, trauma-informed framework equips everyone with a plan they can deploy during any violent critical incident.

Starkly, only 18% of teachers feel confident their training would minimize loss of life, and roughly half of students share that same uncertainty.

The right training closes that gap—that’s where ALICE shines. 

So, what does ALICE teach?

ALICE—short for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate—is an options-based framework, not a rigid checklist. These five responses work in order: alert others to danger, lock down and barricade when you can’t leave, inform with real-time details, counter as a last resort using noise and movement (not fighting), and evacuate to a rally point when it’s safe.

Just as important, ALICE is trauma-informed. That means ALICE recognizes that students and staff bring different experiences into their learning environments and delivers that preparedness in a way that builds confidence instead of fear.

In practice, that means it accounts for the different experiences students and staff bring to their learning environments and prepares them in a way that builds confidence instead of fear.

That attention to mental health precisely separates genuine readiness from a compliance checkbox.

Readiness is a Culture, Not a Single Drill

As George Hunter makes clear, readiness isn’t a single drill. It’s a culture. He recommends rolling training out in layers: first school and parish leaders, then teachers, parents, and finally students, each at an age-appropriate level.

Because Catholic school families are often the same faces you see on Sunday, that shared trust makes buy-in easier. When everyone is on the same page, an announced drill builds real readiness and confidence.

The Four Steps Towards Preparedness Every Classroom Can Take Today

As Dr. Willemin put it, “We want everyone to go home at the end of every day.”

Here are four things you can implement today:

1. Learn your nearest exits before you need them
2. Be mindful of your position while teaching—never turn your back to the door
3. Preplan your barricade and determine which furniture you can move
4. Keep classroom doors locked during class hours. It’s a simple and low-cost line of defense

Today, more than 37 states require active-shooter response training, many including Catholic and non-public schools. Compliance is only the floor. The schools that are truly prepared are the ones who ask hard questions first.

As Hunter said, “I’m the director of training, but I’m also a dad and a husband. If there’s a better program I could teach my own family—my wife and my five kids—I’d do it tomorrow. I’ve not found anything better.”