Schools improve emergency response plans

Mar. 9—Students of every generation have actively prepared for emergencies at school.

Worst case scenarios had children ducking under desks during air raid bombing drills in the 1940s and subsequent decades. Fire drills have always been used teach students how to get out safely and meet up at a designated spot.

But the nature of those drills has changed dramatically in recent years.

Schools are adapting security and training in response to increased gun violence and tragic school shootings.

Timberlane Regional School District Superintendent Chris Kellan said the focus of active threat response has evolved rapidly during the last decade.

On Feb. 13, a gunman opened fire at Michigan State University and killed three students. While this is the most recent tragedy to make national headlines, there have been hundreds of school shootings in recent years.

"The world has changed," said Haverhill Superintendent Margaret Marotta.

She said only a few years ago there was concern that active shooter drills would have an adverse physiological effect on students.

Now, the drills have proven necessary to teach students and personnel valuable skills that transcend school buildings, according to Marotta.

"With the incidence of mass shootings being nearly daily events in our country, families and staff have become more open to active shooter training," she said.

That sentiment is shared among local school officials, who find themselves continually upgrading protocols and security measures.

In the past year, designated safety committees at Timberlane and Salem schools have assessed which crisis planning updates would provide students with a safer learning environment.

Timberlane has implement a lockdown protocol for active threats. Kellan said the district is undergoing ALICE training which is projected to be used district-wide soon.

ALICE training involves five key components if an intruder enters the school. The acronym stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate.

"Kids can only be educated when they feel safe," Kellan said. "Families have to also feel well about their kids coming to school."

He said the district plans to increase not only student, but community education of these active shooter and intruder drills.

All four Timberlane towns — Plaistow, Atkinson, Sandown and Danville — and their law enforcement agencies are involved with the new response plan.

Salem updated its emergency response last summer to overhaul plans for active threats. Salem follows a "run, hide, fight" strategy at the high school.

The fight component is eliminated for elementary and middle school students. Decisions are made at a teacher's discretion.

All Salem schools practice the drills throughout the year.

Salem Superintendent Maura Palmer said parents were initially concerned that kids would have to make a decision to fight through a crisis. But she has since seen a positive response from families regarding new protocols and significant improvements since its implementation.

Salem additionally updated security measures like putting numbers on windows and adding more electronic access points to increase overall safety.

Lawrence schools operate three options depending on the situation, said Lawrence Public Schools Communications Director Chris Markuns.

Those are shelter-in-place — when students carry on with class but can't leave the building — lockdown and evacuation.

Haverhill schools have followed ALICE training for six years. Marotta said officials routinely train and provide age appropriate lessons to students beforehand.

School districts across the region have also expanded their practices to prominently involve law enforcement.

Communication with police and fire departments has been a vital component in rolling out new emergency response plans in Salem.

In Lawrence, Markuns agreed that communication with police has been crucial, and has also strengthened the relationship between students and school resource officers.

Officers routinely tour school buildings to maintain familiarity with layouts.

All Lawrence police cruisers also carry floor plans for each school.

Marotta said Haverhill works with not only Haverhill police, but other local agencies to proactively plan drills. Leaders are also on the lookout for grants to fund new enhancements.

She emphasized, "As long as gun violence remains at the current level in this country, our schools will require ongoing training and resources to keep our staff and students safe."

OLD STORY

LONDONDERRY — The school district continues its efforts to keep students and staff as safe as possible.

That includes continuing on with specialized training in the ALICE program, where efforts are now underway in the schools to train students to be safe and prepared.

ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evaluate.

At a recent School Board meeting, interim Superintendent Dan Black gave an update on the current schedule for students in the district to be trained.

That includes the youngest at Moose Hill School up through high school.

Training is being held all this week.

In an earlier statement to families, Black said the process with the ALICE program got its start and certification in the district back in the spring, through a collaborative effort between the district's Emergency Operations and Procedures Committee, in partnership with Londonderry police school resource officers to "best prepare our schools for a violent critical incident."

Staff went through the training during the summer.

In September, an information night for families gave more information on what would be happening once the training got started in the schools with students.

Teachers will use age-appropriate lesson plans to discuss what ALICE means within their classrooms.

"Once we have prepared our students, we plan to have ALICE drills at each school during the week of Dec. 5 to practice just the enhanced lockdown and barricading classrooms," Black said in his statement, adding that school resource officers, school administration and others will be on hand at each building to ensure all goes smoothly.

At the recent board meeting, Black reiterated the importance of the ALICE program and to make sure everyone is set up to be safe.