Stoughton School, Police Officials Talk to Parents About ALICE School Shooter Response Program

After participating in a training program and making a presentation to the Stoughton School Committee, Stoughton school and police officials took the another step Tuesday in putting the ALICE school shooter response program into operation by holding a forum for parents at the O'Donnell Middle School media center.

In the wake of the Newtown, CT shooting in December and past tragedies at Virginia Tech and at Columbine High School in Colorado, different methods of dealing with the unthinkable happening in Stoughton are going to be used.

O'Donnell Middle School assistant principal David Guglia and Stoughton High assistant principal Michael O'Neil outlined the program for the parents. 

Past protocol in the event of a school shooting involved going into lockdown at the schools and taking cover inside to wait for the police to arrive. Instead, the schools will be adopting ALICE, a more proactive response, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. 

School administrators and police officials underwent two days of training to learn the program, studying the events of Columbine, including listening to the 911 call made to the Littleton Police Department.

Stoughton Police juvenile detective Roger Hardy said if a situation occurs, getting information from a school under attack will be vital.

"I want to know where to go," he said. 

Schools have direct connection with the police department and the direct numbers have been given to them to place in their personal cell phones.

Following past procedure, the school would have been ordered to go on lockdown and the police would be waiting for a SWAT team to arrive.

Now, the police have learned to get into the school as soon as they can, because the shootings happen very quickly.

And, instead of being told to hide in the classroom, students may be instructed to flee the building as fast as they can, including breaking windows to get outside.

One of the more controversial elements to ALICE is the "C" for counter by means of distracting, disorienting and disarming. School officials and teachers will be instructed not to remain quiet, but instead, to cause as much noise as possible to distract the shooter. In the case where it is possible, teachers and students will be told to rush the attacker and try to take him/her down.

"We're not looking for heroes," said Stoughton Police Executive Officer Robert Devine, "but if he's in front of you, you have got to do something. If not you are going to die."

With ALICE, teachers will be enpowered to make decisions they think will keep them and their students safe.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Marguerite Rizzi said they will be instructed to use the fight or flight natural reaction.

"We're telling them to get out of there," Dr. Rizzi said. "It's not an option to sit there and wait."

Addressing parental concern about finding out what is going on as an event is taking place, police officials said they will get the information out through reserve 911 and pick-up points for the children will be established away from the active situation. 

O'Neil, Guglia and Hardy all have children of varying ages in the Stoughton School system and they said they were comfortable with their children learning the program.

The next step will be to provide training to the teachers during staff development days. With little time available for the rest of the school year, Dr. Rizzi said they will be looking into finding funding to possibly bring the staff back for training days in the summer.

Once teachers have been trained, the task will be to put together a specific plan to present to the students from the elementary to high school level. This is not expected to happen until next school year, at the earliest. 

After taking the training, Dr. Rizzi feels the schools are already in a better situation as the new program moves along.

"We believe schools are generally very safe," Dr. Rizzi said. "We also believe it is important to have a plan in place."