Local elementary school hops on board with ALICE

"An intruder has entered the building," a voice announced via the school's intercom system.

The voice belonged to Ruth Ann Orr, principal of Alma Schrader Elementary School. Her announcement Thursday morning marked the beginning of the school's Intruder Alert drill.

Students in classrooms sat behind locked doors and students who happened to be in the hallway were quietly directed single-file by teachers and administrators to places designated as safe areas. After all classroom and safe-area doors were checked to make sure they were locked, it was announced the drill was over.

"The drill was done so that we can be efficient and timely when it comes to a real intruder," Orr. "All of the doors that had students behind them were locked tight, and that was the goal of the drill."

The Intruder Alert drill at Alma Schrader was the first in the Cape Girardeau School District since the December shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

"It's a small portion of our ALICE training," Orr said. "I'm pleased with the performance of our students and teachers."

In March, district teachers and administrators attended an ALICE training session conducted by instructors from the Department of Public Safety at Southeast Missouri State University and the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's office. ALICE, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Information, Counter and Evacuation, teaches how to exit a situation and dangerous places as quickly as possible.

Orr declined to discuss the other ALICE training she and others at Alma Schrader received because of security concerns.

"I can't disclose details," she said. "I don't mean to sound like our plans are vague -- they are anything but that. It's just something I feel that is best kept private."

Orr said Thursday's drill was the second to take place at Alma Schrader since the start of the school year.

"We have two drills a year for tornadoes, fires, earthquakes and intruders," Orr said. "Like the other drills, the intruder drill is something we do to keep us prepared. The kids aren't panicked and neither are the teachers."

Orr said Alma Schrader has held intruder drills since before the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., where Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded 24 others.

"Unfortunately, with every incident that happens at other schools, you have to learn something new about security," she said.

Doug Richards, director of the Department of Public Safety at Southeast, agreed.

"Police methods have had to adapt since the school shootings have grown in number," Richards said. "The old way of responding to a crisis is over and has been replaced by a more active response."

Richards was an ALICE instructor who trained district teachers and administrators in March.

"In the case of an active shooter, the objective of the police is to render the shooter inactive by any means necessary," he said.

Richards explained that during the Columbine tragedy, police procedures consumed valuable time.

"At Columbine, police officers were setting up a command post while shots were being fired inside," he said. "Now the procedure calls for immediately going after an active shooter."

When asked about the training to become a certified ALICE instructor, Richards said he would rather not disclose the information.

Not only are police officers being certified. Neil Glass, assistant superintendent for administrative services of the Cape Girardeau School District, was in Kansas City, Mo., on Thursday and Friday training to become a certified ALICE instructor.

"The more I can learn about keeping our kids safe, the better administrator I can be," Glass said on Wednesday.

Orr said Alma Schrader was as safe as possible.

"Nobody can get through the entrance without being buzzed in," she said. "We have video cameras in place so that we can see who we're dealing with. We have a school-resource officer from the police department, and classroom doors are locked. I want our kids, and parents, coming to the school feeling that they're safe."

klewis@semissourian.com

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