The Culver Community Schools Corporation is stepping up its efforts to keep students safe during potential crisis situations. School safety coordinator and elementary school principal Erin Proskey presented the corporation’s updated crisis plan to the school board Monday.
She says the biggest change to the plan is the addition of the ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) procedure, “I put ALICE in there as an emergency procedure. And this is when there is imminent danger within the building, and this is where either the teachers would remove the students from the building or they would barricade themselves in the classroom or in the high school situation, I would imagine, not in the elementary situation, although maybe in the upper grades, they would fight.”
ALICE joins the other procedures in the crisis plan, Code White, Code Yellow, and Code Green. Code White is a preventative lockdown that would be used in response to a crisis situation outside the school corporation. Students would be kept inside the buildings, and business would continue as usual. Code Yellow is more restrictive, designed as a response to emergency situations inside one of the school buildings, such as a fight or a medical emergency. Students would be required to remain in their classroom, while class would be able to continue. Code Green signals a return to normal operations.
The corporation will have the chance to put the new procedures to the test during an active shooter drill tomorrow (Friday). Interim Superintendent Chuck Kitchell says police will be on hand for the training, and they will be firing their weapons in the buildings to simulate an actual shooting, “It’s an intense training to actually hear the shots going off, and you’re kind of huddling in a room and you’re making the decision whether you think you can get out of that room and run down the hall and get out of the building or not.”
School Board Secretary Marina Cavazos praised Proskey’s efforts, saying minor adjustments could add up, “It’s just sad that we have to come to this, but you know what, it does help. Every time that we have one of these plans in action, it does help, maybe not that much, but it does help. So whatever will help to save somebody’s life or whatever, that’s awesome.”
The school board voted unanimously to accept the updates to the corporation’s crisis plan.
