Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Lincoln Schools Change Active Intruder Response
LINCOLN — Lincoln schools will join Prairie Grove and Farmington school districts in changing the way students and staff respond to an active intruder on campus.
No longer is the only course of action to tell students and teachers to go into their classroom, lock the door, turn out the lights, hide under their chairs and desks and wait for police to arrive.
Statistics show, said Cpl. Brian Key with Lincoln Police Department, officers will not show up in time to stop the intruder, particularly in the case of an active shooter.
“It’s up to the kids and staff to save themselves before I get there,” Key told about 10 parents attending a meeting last week to give out information on A.L.I.C.E., or Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate. “For an active shooter, in less than 10 percent of the time, officers showed up and stopped them.”
A second community meeting was held that same evening and two more meetings will be held later in March or early April to tell parents about the new policy.
Stan Karber, Lincoln Middle School assistant principal, said research from school shootings proves that schools need to come up with another plan of action when an active intruder is on school property.
The longest school shooting occurred at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., when two teens went on a shooting spree April 20, 1999, killing 13 people and wounding more than 20 others.
The Columbine shooting lasted 30 minutes, Karber said, but research shows most only last 2-5 minutes. The average response time for law enforcement is 6-8 minutes.
Key, Karber and Deon Birkes, high school assistant principal, attended a two-day A.L.I.C.E. training in January in Tulsa, and are now certified to train others.
Karber said all school staff have gone through the training. The next step is to inform the community about using the protocols and then to prepare students for different scenarios through drills, similar to tornado and fire drills. The first drills will probably occur in late April or May, said Karber.
Karber said staff will use age- appropriate language and scenarios, especially when talking to younger children.
“This is a tough subject to talk about,” Karber acknowledged.
The key to using A.L.I.C.E., he said, is providing as much information as possible to everyone in the school when a threatening situation exists.
Alert means to use plain and specific language so teachers and students know what is going on. Code words will not be used, Key said. For example, if an intruder is in a school, a school official may go on the intercom and give a detailed description of the person and where the intruder is in the building. Other information can be sent out through cell phones, text messages or emails.
The school will call 911 and students and teachers with cell phones will be encouraged to call 911 to give out as much information as possible.
Lockdown means not only for students and teachers to go in their classrooms and lock the doors but they also will barricade the doors with desks, chairs, tables and anything else available. Lincoln classrooms have been equipped with an extra measure to secure doors.
Inform is similar to alert in that information will continually be provided to students and staff in the school and law enforcement. Key said this will provide better decision-making for everyone involved.
Counter is considered a last resort. If students and teachers are approached by an active intruder and in a dangerous situation, they are to use any means available to save themselves and others. This could include throwing items to distract, disorient or stress out the shooter so that others can take the person to the ground and hold him/ her down until police arrive, Karber said.
“We will teach our kids to defend themselves with whatever means necessary,” he added.
Evacuate teaches students and teachers to remove themselves from the situation when it is safe to do so. Examples are running from the intruder or climbing out a classroom window.
“We want to reduce the number of potential targets for the shooter,” said Key. “These guys are not snipers. They are not tactical trained.” He added, “We want to create chaos.”
Each school will have an evacuation site. The elementary school will evacuate to the softball field. The middle school’s site is Lincoln Square and high school students and staff will evacuate to Appletown.
The A.L.I.C.E. protocols are not meant to be used in an exact order, Karber said.
“The purpose is to empower staff to make decisions based on the information they have,” Karber said. “This provides options. This takes the advantage away from the aggressor.”
Staff and students will be encouraged to think outside the box, he noted.
“It’s OK to jump out a window. It’s OK to break the window. It’s OK to run as fast as you can down the hallway. No rules apply. We want to enhance survival rates,” he said.
Karber said a foolproof plan does not exist but compared to the former lockdown only plan, “This is light years ahead.”
Farmington and Prairie Grove already use the A.L.I.C.E. protocols in their schools.