Through the Looking Glass ~ ALICE Drill at Lane School Starts Discussion

By Gene Kalb

Friday was the sixth anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre. Since then, schools across the nation as well as here in Bedford have been dealing with how to handle threats of all types.

On November 30, the Job Lane School conducted an ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) drill. The purpose of the drill is to prepare for an external threat in our schools. The Bedford Schools have been using the ALICE program since the 2016/2017 school year at Bedford High School, the Middle School, and Job Lane. The implementation of the ALICE program came after recommendations from a school security task force, formed in 2013 after the Sandy Hook school shooting, as well as the Massachusetts Task Force Recommendations. The ALICE program is but one of the recommendations implemented by the Bedford Schools. The program is an option-based curriculum for older students, while younger students are instructed to follow their teachers’ instructions. Teachers go through extensive training before teaching protocols to the students.

ALICE (Have You Heard About ALICE? The Bedford Citizen, October 16, 2015 ) is a more option-based approach to school safety. The previous protocol was lockdown and shelter in place. The ALICE Program teaches staff and students in the upper grades to take a more active role in reacting to a threat. In the lower grades, students are taught to follow instructions from their teachers. Part of the program involves real-life simulations and role-playing, not only with the staff but also the students themselves. Part of role-playing is what took place at the Lane School on Friday, November 30. Having children participate in a drill to practice for dangerous situations is a scary proposition for both kids and their parents. After the drill, there were some Facebook posts commenting about the kids coming home for school being upset and a bit shaken. Some commented they thought the school could have prepared the students and parents better.

The Schools’ Perspective

We reached out to both Superintendent Jon Sills and Keith Kinney, Assistant Principal at Lane School, chair of the School Department’s Crisis Team, and Bedford’s representative to the NEMLEC Stars program and have incorporated their input.

Superintendent Sills noted, “…we take great pains not to scare children, but we know that saving lives is sometimes a matter of seconds. We are also cognizant of the fact that fire drills frighten some students, and we support them the best we can, but we still need to do fire drills.”

Keith Kinney shared that preparation for the drill was quite extensive. At the end of October, a presentation by Lane Principal Rob Ackerman and Kinney was given to third and fourth graders based on the ALICE-endorsed book, “Be Prepared Not Scared.” The fifth graders were briefed with their teachers, having been through this drill twice already. The staff at the school has also done extensive training. After the drill, Kinney followed up with the staff to get their feedback. The feedback from the staff was positive, saying the kids were engaged and took the drill seriously and asked good questions. Parents also received an email after the drill informing them in detail what the drill was about.

In the Media

In terms of ALICE and the more option-based approaches, the jury certainly is still out. Some sources credit training in preventing a much bigger tragedy at Rancho Tehema School in California: Elementary school lockdown training saved lives CBS News video – Nov 30, 2017.

On the other side, James Alan Fox, a leading criminologist at Northeastern University,(America’s increasing moral panic over active shooters is overblown and counterproductive — USA Today Aug 6, 2018) , argues that these drills are doing more damage than they are worth–that traumatizing kids to prepare for a statistically very small threat doesn’t make sense. America’s increasing moral panic over active shooters is overblown and counterproductive – USA Today, Aug 6, 2018. In general, the feedback has been positive from parents also. Most parents understand the reasoning behind the drills and appreciate what the schools are doing. Unfortunately, preparing for dangerous situations is becoming the norm, New Reality for High School Students: Calculating the Risk of Getting Shot – New York Times, May 20, 2018. How to prepare for a school shooting is a question that goes well beyond our Bedford community.

Professor Fox also is somewhat cynical about the new, booming industry that has emerged in the area of school safety. According to the Washington Post, the school safety industry has grown to $2.7 billion. Armored school doors, bulletproof whiteboards and secret snipers – Washington Post, Nov 13, 2018. and Inside The Business Of School Security To Stop Active Shooters NPR.org – Nov 17, 2018. Doing a quick Google search will yield numerous school safety conferences, all with vendors pitching their programs and products. There is no doubt that this has become a big business.

Preparing kids for the unthinkable is not new to this generation. Children in World War II, even in this country, had occasional air raid drills. For those who went to in school in the 1950s the threat of a nuclear attack was a prime concern. Students were taught how to Duck and Cover, in case of an attack. It has been pointed out that these Civil Defense drills might have led to the rise of the anti-nuclear movement that would come later. The comparison to the civil defense drills of the fifties and our current situation is discussed in a Slate article. “The Teacher Would Suddenly Yell ‘Drop!’” – The duck-and-cover school exercises from the nuclear era are being invoked as a parallel to active shooter drills. Is that a useful comparison? ” Slate Magazine – Mar 13, 2018.

One thing that has been pointed out is that both air raids and preparation for a nuclear attack, however horrible, were still abstract ideas in their time. With social media and extensive media coverage of school shootings, the threat is a lot less abstract to this generation

The Bedford Citizen and the Bedford Schools hope this leads to a broader discussion on how best deal with this issue. Below are articles on how our town has come to where we are now.