TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) – Vigo County School Corporation students will receive ALICE active shooter response training in the coming weeks.
The ALICE acronym stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. This type of training gives flexibility to teachers and staff on how to respond to a potential incident.
VCSC adopted this method earlier this year and its teachers have already received this training. Director of Student Services Dr. Tom Balitewicz said that the response has been positive from teachers.
“They appreciate having the flexibility in our emergency plans,” Balitewicz said.
Some aspects of ALICE have been put into use. Last month, a man displayed a gun at a Sarah Scott Middle School basketball game that caused spectators to either evacuate or barricade themselves for safety.
VCSC Coordinator of Safety and Security Kurt Brinegar said that ALICE was effective in this situation.
“You can evacuate if you need to, you can barricade yourself for protection if you need,” Brinegar said. “That’s what ALICE is kind of based on.”
On the day of that incident, Balitewicz stated that they had an ALICE training session at Sarah Scott Middle School.
“I believe that day we had ALICE training at Sarah Scott, and I think hopefully some of those concepts transferred right away,” Balitewicz said.
The goal is to have all students trained sometime shortly after the winter break.
