On August 4th, 2015, several WGSD staff, including newly hired WGSD Superintendent Ed Brzinski, attended a safety training on the ALICE program. ALICE is an acronym for five strategies: Alert; Lockdown; Inform; Counter and Evacuate. The ALICE program outlines the new guidelines for school safety that align and build upon years of emergency planning work by the Federal government.
With Mr. Brzinski’s guidance, the board will now begin reviewing all of the safety committee’s past recommendations and procedures. Our first meeting to review safety is this Monday, September 21st, following the regular monthly school board meeting. This Monday’s regularly scheduled board meeting is one where citizens can address the school board in open session. View Monday’s meeting agenda.
Posted by Matt Kranich on 9/18/2015
WGSD Parent and WGSD School Board Member
Below is some information taken from the ALICE Training web site:
To make it easy to remember in a stressful situation, ALICE is broken up into five strategies: Alert; Lockdown; Inform; Counter and Evacuate.
The purpose of ALERT is to notify as many people as possible within the danger zone that a potentially life threatening risk exists.
The purpose of LOCKDOWN is to secure in place, and prepare to EVACUATE or COUNTER, if needed.
The purpose of INFORM is to continue to communicate the intruder’s location in real time.
The purpose of COUNTER is to interrupt the intruder and make it difficult or impossible to aim. This is a strategy of last resort.
The purpose of EVACUATE is to remove yourself from the danger zone when it is safe to do so.
The ALICE website states the following on the K-12 School Safety page:
Schools: A Duty to Protect
Since Jefferson founded public education for the citizens of the United States, schools have been charged with the safety of children in their care – a duty to protect. Teachers and administrators have a responsibility to anticipate potential dangers and to take precautions to protect their students from those dangers. An examination of the horrific school shootings from 1999 onward raises the haunting question, “What is the quality of that protection?” Are schools using the best protocol possible?
ALICE: The new Standard of Care
If a school district fails in its duty to protect students from injury and an appropriate standard of care was not used, the district can be found negligent. The standard of care is not a statute or regulation that can be pointed to and expounded upon. The standard of care is a concept that is argued in courtrooms requiring school districts to answer questions like:
1. Did you comply with federal & state recommendations?
2. Is your policy consistent with comparable schools?
3. Did you comply with your own stated policy?