Support for School Safety

ALICE Training has reached out to support the Chambers County School district in Alabama by offering to provide violent intruder response training at no charge. This is the school district who has garnered national media attention when they sent a letter to parents regarding arming students with a canned food item to enhance safety.

Although ALICE was not mentioned in the parents’ letter, several news outlets have referenced our company as providing the training.  We are always available to the news media to confirm any details related to this story including:

  • ALICE has NOT conducted training on behalf of the district.
  • ALICE has NEVER been asked to conduct training on behalf of the district.
  • Auburn University has NOT conducted training at the district.

More importantly than setting the record straight, we feel compelled to offer our training services at no cost to Chambers County School district. The letter below details that offer.

Letter to Chambers County School District

January 16, 2015

Dr. Kelli Hodge, Superintendent

Chambers County Schools

1298 Vocational Drive

LaFayette, AL 36862

REFERENCE:  CHAMBERS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT – OFFER OF TRAINING ASSISTANCE

We’ve taken interest in Chambers County School district’s desire to implement a violent intruder response program including a parent’s letter authored by W.F. Burns Middle School administrators that was sent to us by the news media.  We are supportive of any school district that is committed to school safety and would like to offer our assistance in providing proper violent intruder training.  This includes our ALICE program which is used in over 1,700 school districts nationwide.

Today, many federal and state agencies, the state of Alabama, and law enforcement associations provide written recommendations on violent intruder response.  ALICE aligns with these recommendations including the use of enhanced lockdown, evacuation and counter techniques.  Most importantly, counter techniques (noise, movement, distraction) should only be used as a last resort with the intent to reduce the intruder’s ability to shoot accurately and provide precious seconds to evacuate from the danger.

Our offer of assistance includes, at no charge:

      1.  Parent Night/Q&A Presentation. To be conducted by ALICE president and founder, Greg Crane and Lisa Crane (co-founder) who is a former school principal.

      2.   Onsite Training. Onsite rollout and initial training for district staff.

      3.  E-Learning Subscriptions for up to 250 District Employees. Final step in staff training. Allows for consistent and timely implementation with the ease of an online learning environment.

      4.   ALICE Children’s’ Books (15 copies) written by nationally acclaimed children’s author, Julia Cook. Classroom aids for implementing ALICE with elementary students.

If you are interested in our offer of services, please contact Victoria Shaw at [email protected] or 330-661-0106 ex. 1010 to coordinate efforts.

Respectfully,

Dave Mueller

Director

Download letter – Chambers County School District Offer

 The Purpose of Counter Strategies

The purpose of Counter strategies is to prevent the shooter from shooting accurately and to buy more time for the innocent people to react in other ways, such as evacuation.

Federal and State Support for Proactive Strategies

ATI pioneered these strategies well over a decade ago. These strategies are now supported by many prestigious organizations. Here are some examples:

• US Department of ED, REMS Division, Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operation Plans, 2013, Page 65: “If neither running nor hiding is a safe option, as a last resort when confronted by the shooter, adults in immediate danger should consider trying to disrupt or incapacitate the shooter by using aggressive force and items in their environment, such as fire extinguishers, and chairs.”  Download PDF

• New York City Police Department, NYPD Active Shooter – Recommendations and Analysis for Risk Mitigation, 2011, Page 6: “Take Action: If neither evacuating the facility nor seeking shelter is possible, building occupants should attempt to disrupt and/or incapacitate the active shooter by throwing objects, using aggressive force, and yelling.” Download PDF

• Ohio Attorney General School Safety Task Force, Recommendations and Resources, 2013, Page 50: “Staff and students may utilize methods to distract the shooter/intruder’s ability to accurately shoot or cause harm, such as loud noises or aiming and throwing objects at the shooter/intruder’s face or person.” Download PDF