Mar 30, 2015 By Suzanne Elliott 3 min read

Peters Township School District is in the process of training its teachers and employees on safety and lockdown procedures in the event of a catastrophic occurrence, such as a school shooting.

“On an ongoing basis, our safety plans evolve as we examine past events in other districts and work to improve our procedures,” said Jeannine French, Peters superintendent. “We continually review and test our safety plan and processes to ensure that we are enacting the most up-to-date safety and security efforts.”

Peters is adopting ALICE, a national safety program, that was developed by a Dallas police officer following the 1999 school shooting in Columbine, Colo.

ALICE – which has become popular with school districts across the country, and stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter, evacuate – is overwhelmingly recommended by police departments nationwide, including Peters Township Police. The safety program advocates taking a proactive, rather than a passive approach to an armed intruder to ensure a better chance of survival. Locally, the Bethel Park school board adopted ALICE in 2013. ALICE Training Institute, based in Medina, Ohio, said more than 1,600 schools now use its program.

“Our previous practice was to lock the doors,” said Shelly Belcher, a Peters School District spokeswoman who is a certified ALICE trainer.

Under the Alert part of ALICE, staff and students are taught to use clear and concise language and alert as many people as possible to the danger. With lockdown, the idea is to secure the location by locking the doors and barricading the entrances.

“The more things between you and the bad guys, the better,” said Peters Township police officer Jim Stevick, the district’s high school resource officer. Stevick is also an ALICE certified trainer.

The inform portion of ALICE involves making sure communication continues so staff can make decisions. Counter involves applying skills to distract, confuse and possibly detain the intruder. Evacuate simply means removing potential targets by getting as far away as possible from the intruder.

Using the ALICE program, staff and students will learn to listen to the information that is being provided. This will likely include the location and type of event that is taking place. They will then go to, or remain in a secure area until it is safe to leave. As soon as it is safe to do so, the building will be evacuated. And if the armed intruder does invade their location, staff and students will be trained on how to district, confuse and possibly gain control of situation, French said.

“Understanding that our communications with students vary by age level, our safety teams and elementary counselors are working to create age appropriate lessons for our students,” French said. “Our safety drills are being redesigned to reflect these new options, and students and staff will receive ongoing training during each school year.”

Beginning in April, Belcher will be visiting the building PTA meetings to talk about ALICE. She is scheduled to visit the Pleasant Valley Elementary PTA at 9:15 a.m. on April 1; Bower Hill Elementary PTA, 9:15 a.m. April 8; Peters Middle School PTA, 9:15 a.m. April 9 in the administration building; McMurray Elementary PTA, 9:15 a.m. April 14, and Peters Township High School PTSA, 9:15 a.m. April 16.

“Our hope is that we will never need to utilize these methods in our schools,” French said. “It is our responsibility, however, to be prepared. We believe ALICE training, in conjunction with our other safety efforts, will give us the tools to create the best chance for survival.”