An Alice drill is designed to cause chaos. The goal is to slow an intruder down to prevent mass casualties. When an intruder enters the building a class can either blockade in a classroom or evacuate. Their decision is based off of their classrooms location and the shooters position. If the shooter is near and one can not evacuate they are taught to turn off all lights and to lock the door. Then everyone works to blockade the door with whatever they can. The blockade is meant to slow the intruder down and to hopefully cause him to move on and give up on breaking into the classroom. Finally students hide in a corner of the room in which they are not visible from the door. They grab objects that they can potentially throw at the intruder in case in breaks through the barrier. And then they wait.
All students fear the worst scenario in a school shooting. Students question whether they can attack and stand up against the shooter. Students question whether they can run fast enough. Students question whether they can proceed with barricading quick enough. There are many “what if’s”, but the real question is, can anyone prepare for the “what if’s”? During the recent Alice Drill, students were giggling and talking, and students did not grab books, staplers, or chairs to protect themselves. The ‘real deal’ always comes as a surprise, and it is hard to prepare for a surprise but the Alice Drill gives students chances to act and survive. During a recent school assembly, objects that would help in school shooting scenarios were brought up to the students. These objects include: a hammer, a rope ladder, a bat, and a belt/rope. A hammer could be used to break open a window. A rope ladder is a potential escape route from the windows of higher floored classrooms. A bat could be used as an object of self preservation. A belt/rope is especially useful in keeping a door closed with higher strength than solely a barricade. No matter what, if this situation does happen to occur, many students, teachers, administration members, family, and friends will be afraid, but we will be strong and hopeful for the best scenario.
Thousands across America are mad that students have to go through these drills. That each student has to know what to do in order to survive. School is a place where one should feel safe, people are angry that everyone has to prepare for events like these. Even small children need to prepare for when a “bad guy” enters the premises. While this is going on it seems that Reading only prepares for moments like these when a tragic event occurs. The last Alice drill the high school has completed was two years ago! This is a substantially long time as each year the freshman need to know what to do if these events occur. After the current events it has brought light to the situation and actions are being taken to change the current system. Recently it has been said that the high schools new plan is to have an Alice Drill twice a year. The town is taking a step in the right direction to make sure that if this situation ever occurs students will know how to react.
Our state government does not mandate what system to use if their is an intruder in the school; therefore, while our school district may utilize the ALICE safety plan, other school districts in Massachusetts may not. However, many school districts in the area do practice the ALICE system because they believe it is a system that works. The Massachusetts Task Force Report on School Safety and Security reports that if there is an intruder in the school building, then students should loosely follow the ALICE protocol. However, this is not required, but recommended. Even though the ALICE protocol is not required, the Boston Magazine reports that many schools in Massachusetts utilize it anyway.