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Enemy at the gates
School shootings seem like something a million miles away (or at least a few thousand across the Atlantic), but that’s not to say schools shouldn’t be prepared for an intruder on the premises. GEOrGE CArEy investigates the best way to keep your school safe
have, with the tragic exception of Dunblane, been spared the scenes in schools that now seem to play out with alarmingly regularity in America. There’s no harm in schools readying themselves for the worst case scenario, though, and despite our lack of gun-related incidents, there is still plenty of scope for intruders and undesirable events inside the school gates.
E STOP, DROP AND ROLL
School drills are a great way to ready teachers and pupils for emergency situations, and if properly practised can reduce the panic levels during times of extreme diversity sufficiently to get everyone through it safely. In the most extreme cases – an armed intruder – one particular drill practised in the US has polarised opinion. The training follows a protocol known as ALICE – alert, lockdown, inform, counter, evacuate. So far ALICE has been implemented in over 300 schools courtesy of former SWAT officer Greg Cane and his wife, an ex- school principal, who devised the programme in the mid-2000s for teachers, staff and students. It’s the ‘counter’ element that has raised particular concerns, which encourages those threatened – as a last resort – to overcome an armed intruder. If this
april 2013 \
www.edexec.co.uk
ngland’s social ills can sometimes loom large in the collective consciousness, especially if you read the Daily Mail, but thankfully gun crime is still a relatively rare occurrence here. Accordingly we
all seems a bit too OK Corral for application on these shores, the training does also have advice on less risky procedures. Other instructions include an updated approach to the notion of ‘lockdown’, which suggests barricading doors to discourage shooters from entering. Cane reasons that doors with glass are easy to break but if a gunman has to spend too long trying to get into a room, they will most likely lose interest and move on. Despite the fact that a school intruder is unlikely to be armed, a drill designed to deal with any kind of intrusion is a good idea to maintain the safety of everyone concerned. Simple low-tech classroom precautions, such as, teachers locking their classroom doors, turning off the lights and moving all students to an area of the classroom where they can’t be seen through windows and are down on the floor, could be enough to ensure the safety of the children inside. Panic buttons on teachers’ desks can set off an alarm across the school and alert all classrooms to do the same, or send a silent alarm to the office, keeping everybody safe until the police arrive. An automatic locking system
Panic buttons on teachers’
desks can set off an alarm across the school and alert all classrooms
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