Columbia Public School District – Columbia, MO

After several events that have shaken the nation, schools must now answer the question: What happens when there is a violent intruder? Several school districts around Missouri have been practicing a program called ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) training and have been bumping up security parameters around their schools. ALICE has been taught in Columbia since October 2012, and is now gaining popularity elsewhere in the state from Senate Bill 75, which states that each school district may participate in the training, said John White, Columbia Public School District’s security director. “With the new passage of Senate Bill 75, every school in Missouri is going to have to do some kind of active-shooter drill witnessed by police,” he said. “The state is mandating that we kick everything up a notch from what we have been doing in the past, and rightfully so.” Read more