ALICE

On Monday, Jan. 17, Taylor School District partnered with the Taylor Police Department to hold its first ALICE training in over two years. Nearly all employees were trained on this date, and those who weren’t are set to have training on Feb. 22. Once the February training is complete, our district will hold an “ALICE Day” in the spring to train students and answer any questions they may have.

“We’re glad start really focusing on ALICE training,” says Michele Marshall, director of Security at Taylor School District. “It’s extremely important that our staff is consistently trained with the most up-to-date safety measures to ensure they know what to do in an emergency situation.”

ALICE training – which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate – is the nationwide form of active shooter response training. ALICE has been around since 2000, but is constantly changing and evolving.

“This isn’t a one-time training,” says Michele. “We’re going to make it a priority to hold these trainings yearly to ensure our staff is well equipped to handle an emergency. We are lucky to have not been in a situation where we’ve needed to utilize this training, but it’s always important to be prepared.”

The Taylor Police Department sees the value in making sure staff is trained as well. Chief John Blair says if you don’t train for something, then you aren’t prepared to deal with it if it occurs.

“In every aspect of life, we prepare for the ‘what ifs,’” he says. “Car, home and medical insurance – we never know if we’re going to need them, but if we do, then it’s best we’re prepared. ALICE training is our insurance policy to help mitigate the damage of a critical event.”

After the first day of training was complete, staff was asked for feedback. Over 90 percent said they now feel more prepared to handle an emergency.