Jefferson School District starts school prepared with new safety program

RIGBY, Idaho (KIFI) - Jefferson School District 251 started school Tuesday with a new program to help keep students safe.

The program is called Alice.

• Alert - Get the word out! Use clear, concise language to convey the type and specific location of the event.
• Lockdown - We will continue to lockdown students in secure areas.
• Inform - Communicate the violent intruder’s location and direction in real time. Use clear, concise language to convey the type and specific location of the event.
• Counter - Not to be confused with fighting, this step involves creating noise, movement, distance, and distraction, and would be used only when other options are not possible.
• Evacuate – Use safe and strategic evacuation techniques to get people out of harm’s way. Understand how your current environment impacts your ability to evacuate and discover the safest ways to do so.

Superintendent Chad Martin says although the recent school shooting was an influence in to creating the program, it's more just a response to the state of the world currently.

"It's about safety and it's also all schools. It's on their mind right now. So, yeah, I don't know if that's necessarily in response specifically to the incident we had or just the the world that we live in now. You know, across the country, it's not just the schools, it's the malls and supermarkets and concert venues and churches and really, this program is a life skill that can be applied to any of those venues."

Martin says parents are also excited about the program.

"The parents that I've got responses from, yeah, I've got positive responses and parents that are in our meetings as far as that, teachers that have kids, we had a board member that has students in our school. Their response has been very positive as well because again, it's just the next step in keeping our kids safe," he said.

He does say more information will go to the parents as the program continues.

Sherry Simmons, Director of Secondary Education says teachers are just excited for this new avenue they'll have to keep kids safe.

"Teachers have said multiple times that they just feel really good about the training that they've had this year for safety and they're excited to teach their kids how to proceed when we have a lockdown or anything else that comes up. And so I'm excited for the kids to learn those skills and really use them in our drills situations, but they would be available to them, you know, in any situation."

She says that teachers now have multiple options to go through.

"They have options and different ways of approaching situations now. And it's not just one solution. And so knowing that, I think it just makes them feel more confident that they there are certain things that they can do and they can make choices depending on the information that they have."

The ALICE program is impacting the elementary schools in a unique way as well.

"So we typically do a couple of evacuation drills a year and practice lockdown procedures. But with the ALICE training now, elementary teachers have the ability to barricade their doors in addition to locking them down. And the feedback we got during the elementary training is that they feel empowered and not just like they're sitting ducks behind a locked door, hoping that nobody will break in," Michelle Southwick Director of elementary Education said

She says they take the responsibility of watching their students seriously and now the options they have are comforting for the teachers.

"It is a big responsibility. And we did train the elementary teachers on evacuation and counter, but the likelihood of them using it is is pretty low just with elementary kids to try to evacuate. You know, if you have five year olds, you've got to make sure that they're actually with you. And so their number one go to will still be to lock down, but to barricade the door in addition to two locking it."

She says safety trainings like this isn't why they got into teachers but it is just as important as teaching them math.

"It's it's not something you like to think about, especially as an elementary teacher. You go into education to teach the kids reading and math and art and those kinds of things, not how to protect themselves in an emergency necessarily. But we know how important it is. Just like we teach kids what to do in a fire, stop, drop and roll, or we talk to them about, you know, staying away from people they don't know." She added "Stranger danger. So this is just another life skill that we're going to be teaching them. And we'll do that specific teaching once we get the curriculum for the K-5 students."

Martin says while the program has been presented to teachers and they have been trained students haven't seen it yet. He says they hope to introduce it sometime next week.

On the first day of school, Farnsworth Middle School drama teacher and creativity teacher David Crasper says he's excited to continue to help students on their journey of discovery.

"We're really excited to have them back. Just let them explore and get to know. You know, middle school kids are always trying to figure out where they belong and where they fit in. And it's just a great opportunity to to help them on that journey," Crasper said.

A sentiment many representatives in the district echoed.

"The energy this morning was pretty high. So and the principals, we've been here for a while, so we like company. We like the kids to come back and the teachers have come back," Farnsworth Middle School Principle Barry Parkes said.

"Students just breathe life into the building. And so it was fun to walk in today and feel the excitement of the kids. And yeah, that's why we're here. So, yeah, we're excited to have them back," D251 Superintendent Chad Martin said.