Caledonia Area Public Schools- Caledonia, MN
An informational parents meeting was held on ALICE training on Monday, November 9. A clutch of about 20-25 concerned parents came to learn about the program. ALICE which stands for Alert-Lockdown-Inform-Counter-Evacuate is being taught to school districts as a way to deal with an active shooter situation. “When we started all of this it was grounded in our crisis team’s work,” superintendent Ben Barton said. “We’ve engaged a number of stakeholders, developed a lengthy action plan and we have a step-by-step timeline.” Barton said that engaging the parent stakeholders was the next phase in that progression. “We looked closely at how to implement ALICE and we’ve worked through many steps,” he said. Caledonia schools have worked with law enforcement officials and ALICE officials to implement the program within their district.“We wanted to do outreach to parents other than via newsletters or putting information on the website,” Barton said. “We wanted to do something with parents before we introduce it to students.” “This gives parents the chance to learn first hand what ALICE is about and to dispel some of the inaccuracies that are out there.” Read more
