‘Just because some coward with no coping skills comes in with a firearm, it does not mean they are in charge’: Meetings address school safety strategy
That key statement – and many others – were discussed during a string of informational meetings aimed at educating parents about the North Royalton City Schools’ newly adopted safety strategy.
“I wish I could tell you that we could prevent and guarantee nothing bad would ever happen, but that’s not our reality,” said Assistant Superintendent Jim Presot to parents gathered in the North Royalton High School Performing Arts Center. The informational meetings took place on Sept. 11 and 12 and were divided by grade level – elementary, middle school and high school.
Presot was joined by Jon Karl, school resource officer, in outlining the districts’ new emergency preparedness plan and procedure – ALICE, a civilian-based response strategy for crisis situations that stands for “Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate.”
Beginning in October, Presot and Karl will go building-to-building, grade level by grade level, and speak to students about the safety strategy. Teachers will also incorporate ALICE into their lesson plans and provide age-appropriate directions for what actions need to be taken by students in the event of an emergency. As mandated by the state, students will also do 12 preparedness drills per academic year- six fire drills, three emergency response drills and three tornado drills. Emergency management plans will continue to be reviewed and updated regularly. Parents and students can expect to learn more about ALICE throughout the school year. Resources can be found at alicetraining.com.
“The goal of all this is to empower our kids and empower our staff members, and we will continue to train and empower them,” Presot said.
In the strategy, the “A” stands for Alert, which signifies to occupants inside the school building that some type of emergency is taking place, be it screaming, yelling, an announcement on the PA system or gunfire. The “L” stands for Lockdown and instills in staff to immediately lock their doors. Doors will remain locked until an all-clear is given. If a student or staff member is outside of a classroom during Lockdown (using a restroom, walking down a hallway) he/she will be taught to get to any sort of cover, get away from the danger, find a way to get out or get someplace out of sight.
“The breaching of a locked door is a rare event and only in one shooting situation in United States’ history, has an active shooter broken the glass on a door and grabbed for the door handle,” Karl said. “We want kids spread out in the classroom and ready to move if needed. We don’t want kids huddled up together because it just hampers their movement.”
The “I” is for Inform and indicates that information – and being able to provide timely information to staff members and emergency personnel – is critical. The “C” stands for Counter – a means of taking back control. This could include swarming an individual and is appropriate if people are not able to evacuate, the shooter has breached a barricade, people are in the room where the event started, or people are in an area that’s not secure, like an auditorium.
“If you’re a hunter than you know that the moment you introduce movement and distance, you enhance the chance of not getting hit,” Karl said. “In the United States, 75 percent of people who get shot survive. That’s a very large number and those are the things you want to hang your hat on. Just because some coward with no coping skills comes in with a firearm, it does not mean they are in charge.”
Lastly, the “E” in ALICE stands for Evacuate.
“ALICE is not sequential, and we could go out of sequence,” Presot said. “Our goal is always to evacuate. We do the other things in between if we can’t evacuate.”
Each school building has evacuation locations. Students will be taught to walk out of the building with their arms up and palms facing out – similar to an “I surrender” pose, to a specific location. Parents will be notified of “reunification,” or the process of retrieving their son/daughter in a formalized, controlled manner.
Presot also educated meeting attendees on some terminology that will be used including “Stay Put,” which identifies a nonviolent, nonlife-threatening situation such as a medical emergency or injury, “Shelter In Place/Reverse Evacuation” which indicates to building staff and students to quickly re-enter the building (i.e. a severe, fast-moving weather bulletin occurs during outdoor recess or a bank is robbed in the community and the suspect is on foot), and “Lockdown,” a situation where there is a life-threatening emergency coming into the building or is already occurring in the building. The ALICE program itself is the same for every grade level, but the terminology may differ depending on age level.
“We’re not here to scare. We’re here to prepare,” Presot said. “With our youngest students, rather than saying “shooter,” we’ll talk about the sheep, shepherd and the wolf. The shepherd is the adult staff member, the children are the sheep and the wolf is the bad person. We have books and lessons. Countering is another big one. At the elementary level, we would never expect a young person to bring down an assailant. ALICE is a program designed to remove you from the situation. Distance is a key factor. You remove yourself and you get yourself away. Listen to the adult and if the opportunity allows, get out. If not, we’re talking about taking back control. Our job is to flip the control and take back control.”
Currently, all school buildings are kept locked during the school day and visitors must be identified on camera and buzzed in. Staff and students are reminded to never leave doors propped open or open the building doors for anybody. Building staff use key fobs to gain entrance into their building and no staff member at any building is permitted to carry firearms onto school property. Police officers patrol the buildings routinely throughout the day and all buildings are mapped and coded with brightly colored signs. Parents are also kept informed via an electronic alert notification system.
“With the passing of the bond issue, which includes the construction of a new elementary building, enhancements and renovations to the middle school, and a new addition and renovation at the high school, that includes added money for safety and security,” Presot said.
These include more identifiable main entrances, looped driveways and significant cameras and locking devices.
“As we all know, one of the best things we can have is relationships. Parents, have a relationship with your kids so they aren’t afraid to share information with you,” Presot said. “We know of the phrase, ‘See Something, Say Something,’ and in many of these tragedies, they could be prevented. The best thing we all can do is to have relationships with our kids so they know that it’s not tattling. They’re helping others.”
By SARA MACHO HILL
Contributing Writer