ALICE: District Staff to be Trained on Enhanced Lock Down
Protocol
Providing a safe and secure learning environment for
students is of paramount importance in the Olathe Public Schools. The district
has numerous practices, procedures and protocols in place each day to ensure a
safe learning environment.
Starting this spring, the district will begin training staff
on a new safety protocol program called ALICE. ALICE is a protocol that
enhances current lockdown procedures. The U.S. Department of Education, U.S.
Department of Homeland Security and other educational leadership and
governmental agencies have recommended that school districts develop a protocol
that provides options to students and staff when facing threat or harm from an
aggressive intruder.
ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and
Evaluate. ALICE empowers staff to exercise options in the event of such a
critical incident, based on real-time information gathered during the incident.
This enhanced protocol does not dictate to staff or students how they should
react, but merely provides options for actions in addition to just
lockdown.
There will be district-wide information opportunities for
parents moving forward.
“As a school district we are continuously in a mode of
improvement,” said Assistant Superintendent Erin Dugan. “This is true in the
area of safety and security as well. ALICE is an improvement to our current
lockdown protocol as current best practice supports a lock down protocol that
provides options to staff.”
