Dear Mount Vernon Parent/Guardian,
Greetings, I hope this letter finds you doing well as we find ourselves heading into the holiday season. We have been using the ALICE system for active intruder training for the past 6 years. While we have made tremendous advancements with our training, it is important to continually practice and refine our preparedness procedures. During the next couple of weeks we will be conducting the first of two series of ALICE training drills this year. Please feel free to share with your student(s) that we will be conducting these drills in the coming weeks to keep everyone safe.
The ALICE lockdown drills will include the following:
- We will inform each building that we will be conducting a lockdown drill and provide them with a ‘two week window’ in which our lockdown drills will occur.
- We will not be providing a specific time or making an announcement prior to the drill. We want students and staff to respond to the lockdown drills in real-time. We currently run fire drills in the same manner as they are unannounced and students and staff react accordingly when the fire warning bell is activated. Once the lockdown scenario has been activated we will notify students/staff that this is a drill.
- We will not be simulating the sounds of ‘Gun Fire’ but will have a staff member walking the building to better train those responsible for ‘Informing’ staff over the PA system.
The following is a brief review of the ALICE components:
- Alert –– An alert “Siren” will activate the lockdown followed by instructions.
- Lockdown – We will practice the Lockdown protocols to create a safety barrier between students and a potential intruder.
- Inform – Utilizing video surveillance and our PA systems we will make some announcements related to the intruder’s description and location. This information will allow teachers an opportunity to apply the ALICE tools to make decisions.
- Counter – We will prepare to counter after the lockdown has been initiated.
- Evacuation – We may be conducting an evacuation scenario where students will exit the building. Depending upon the weather we may evacuate students to rally points but minimally we may evacuate to locations adjacent the buildings.
The training window will begin December 5th and run through December 15th. We will conduct a similar 2 week scenario in the spring. We will provide additional information on our website and Knox Alerts.
Student training will always be done with the students’ levels of comprehension and maturity in mind. If you should have any questions please don’t hesitate to call or email (740)397-7422 or
[email protected]