A new strategy for responding to armed intruders will be discussed with parents of Oregon-Davis students tonight. School officials will give a presentation and answer questions about the ALICE procedure, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate.
In a letter to community members, Superintendent Dr. Don Harman explained that the old lockdown system had staff members lock their doors, move students to a part of the room where they couldn’t be seen, and remain there until the “all clear” was given. ALICE, on the other hand, aims to remove as many people as possible from the danger zone through proactive, options-based strategies.
Harman stresses that there’s no active threat to Oregon-Davis Schools, but school officials have come to realize that violent intruder events can happen at any time, at any place, and for any reason.
Oregon-Davis officially adopted the ALICE procedure into the corporation’s crisis plan in July. Training for students is expected to begin in the coming weeks. Harman says that by using age-appropriate, kid-friendly language, students as young as kindergartners can be trained to follow the ALICE program.
Tonight’s ALICE presentation and Q&A takes place in the Oregon-Davis Elementary School cafeteria at 6:00 p.m.
