Windham Southwest Supervisory Union – Halifax, VT
Teachers were participating in a web-training on school security called ALICE – “Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate.” ALICE is designed to raise awareness and prepare staff about how to mobilize and protect themselves and students in the event of a school shooting, and Windham Southwest Supervisory Union Superintendent Chris Pratt emphasized that this particular initiative had begun before the most recent shooting in Oregon (or Arizona or Texas). Current lockdown drills, which employ locking mechanisms on doors and hardwired signals, have become as routine as fire drills, but like the Duck and Cover drills of the 1950s, current protocols advise staff and students to stay in place. Halifax School principal Sandy Pentak described ALICE as focusing on perceptual skills that may enable staff to develop real time strategies to counter an attack or evacuate. Read more
