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By Josh Perry
Hometown Weekly Staff
More than a year ago, the Needham school district began exploring changes to its protocols for the extreme situation of an intruder with a weapon. After 1-1/2 years of discussion and research, the district switched to the ALICE protocols and those changes were recently approved by the Needham School Committee.
ALICE is a non-sequential acronym that stands for “Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate.” This is a significant shift from the former protocol that taught teachers and students to lock the doors, shut off the lights and huddle in the corner furthest from the door.
The new protocol tells teachers and students to be proactive and, if possible, to get out of the building or at least to use the resources at hand (desks, file cabinets, bookcases) to barricade the entranceway.
In 1999, a Texas police officer, Greg Crane, and his wife, Lisa, an elementary school teacher, examined school shootings to try and find ways to save lives in those horrible circumstances. Using FBI reports and looking at information from events, such as the shooting at Columbine High in Colorado, it was determined that sitting in place was counter-productive and actually would lead to more casualties.
“The assumption in the old model is that the police will come and the police will take care of the situation,” said Dr. Thomas Campbell, Needham’s Director of Human Resources.
“The FBI report that looked at all of these incidents indicated that in the vast majority of these situations the shooting is over before police arrive on scene.”
He added, “If I hear there is a shooter in the gymnasium and the gymnasium is on the other side of the building, does it not make sense for me to consider getting out and running?”
Columbine is the prime example that has been used to demonstrate the failings of the former protocol. The vast majority of casualties came from students who huddled together in the library, exactly as they had been taught, while an exit door was only a few feet away through an adjoining room. The students huddled for 15 minutes before the shooters got to the library.
Under ALICE protocols, the students would have been encouraged to get out of the building and as far away from the shooters as possible. As Campbell noted, “Evacuating if possible is the very best outcome.”
ALICE relies on information being spread throughout the school to allow teachers and students to make informed decisions. Campbell said that the district has done away with codes for these situations, but will rather make the announcement as clear as possible so that those who can get away will take that option. It also lets those who may be close to a shooter know that they will need to find anyway possible to not only lock the door but block it.
In these extreme circumstances, Campbell explained, the rules of a typical school situation are thrown out the window.
“Would our kids think about taking a chair and smashing a window to get out?” he asked. “It’s about giving permission in this situation to do those kind of things that we wouldn’t allow anyone to do in normal circumstances.”
Campbell and other administrators recently gathered for training at Watertown High. The administrators were run through three scenarios and in each situation used a different protocol, from huddling together to evacuating to barricading, and Campbell said that evacuating produced, by far, the least amount of casualties.
A soft training was also done with high school students and, as with teachers and administrators, some of the students immediately kicked into action when faced with extreme circumstances and others became quiet and reserved.
“That’s a natural reaction in that type of situation,” said Campbell. “There will be some who have the adrenaline kick in and then there will be others who freak a little and struggle with the stress.”
“But those people who kick into action and can take a desk and block the doors and shut off the lights…that’s what we want to have happen.”
The district is planning on having the protocols in place quickly and by next fall to have been through full trainings. It is a tough topic to discuss and certainly not one that teachers, parents, or students would like to consider ever occurring in Needham, but the schools want to be as prepared as possible.
“I hope it never happens but we’ll be prepared as best we can if it does,” said Campbell.
“We’re not going to be able to solve every problem but the ones that we can are worth doing. ALICE is part of a whole view towards making our schools as safe as they can possibly be.”
The district is holding a meeting for parents on Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. at Broadmeadow School to better explain the new protocol, the reasons behind the switch and to answer questions or concerns.
For more information about the ALICE protocols, visit www.needham.k12.ma.us.
Josh Perry is an Editor at Hometown Weekly. He can be reached at news@hometownweekly.net and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.
