Westford Academy – Westford, MA

Westford and Littleton school administrators have  re-evaluated their emergency staff and student safety protocols. Both towns have implemented the ALICE program into their school systems in the past year. ALICE, which stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter, and evacuate, encourages students and staff to methodically work together to survive a school shooting. While previous policies promoted classrooms to go into a lockdown mode during a school shooting, the ALICE program encourages students to evacuate the building, barricade their classroom, or distract the shooter, depending on the situation. Westford Dean of Students Bob Ware brought the program to the district’s attention last year. “The old traditional lockdown method isn’t working,” said Ware. “ALICE just makes sense. We spent the entire year rolling it out and educating staff and students.” So far, Ware and safety officials have educated staff and students about the ALICE program at Westford Academy, and the Stony Brook and Blanchard middle schools. Read more