Virginia requires all 132 school districts in the state to submit their plans in the event of an emergency, including the arrival of an active shooter. For many years teachers and students were told to lock down.
“You’re trained to push any furniture up against the doors, obviously lock doors, make sure to cover any windows so that there’s no line of visibility for an intruder into the school,” says Albemarle County Public Schools spokesperson Helen Dunn. She explains that her district is taking a different approach – educating teachers and staff about various options. Armed with information about a given situation, they’ll be asked to decide when to lock the door, when to try and distract a shooter and when to leave. They’re using a program called ALICE. The A is for alert, L is for lockdown, I is for inform, C is for counter, and E is for evacuate.“
Dunn says countering doesn’t mean fighting back. “It’s actually about in some cases distracting an intruder, creating ways that it would make it harder for an intruder to shoot accurately.”
In online and in-person training sessions, teachers and school staff are learning how to analyze a situation, then make an informed decision on the best course of action – locking down or getting out.
