Kenosha Unified School District to Train Students How to React to Active Shooter Situations

By: CBS58 Staff

Posted: Dec 10, 2015 10:04 AM CDT | Updated: Jul 28, 2016 5:27 PM CDT

Kenosha Unified School District is developing a training plan to teach all 22,000 students in its schools what to do in the event of an active shooter. The district already requires administrators and teachers to go through the training, but this is the first time it will be extended to students. The training course is called ALICE, which stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter, and evacuate.

The district recently experienced a false alarm that put the protocol into action, according to Kenosha News. Last Friday Indian Trail High School and Academy was put on lock down, but the threat turned out to be a hoax.

School officials said that in the case of an attack, teachers and students need to work together quickly in order to ensure their safety. The training will help make sure everyone is prepared.

The district will team with Kenosha Police to administer training to students in February.

In July Kenosha Unified School District teamed up with Kenosha Police at Bradford High School to conduct A.L.I.C.E. or Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate training with administrators. Officers served as actors posing as an active shooters with fake weapons as officials learned the core principals of ALICE. Tanya Ruder the Executive Director Community Partnerships and Media Relations said they are taking the training seriously.

“It's of the utmost importance for our students and teachers to be trained in the program, I mean essentially, if something happens, the teachers and the students need to react as quickly as possible for their own safety." School officials are planning to start training all 22,000 students on lockdown and evacuation procedures starting in February.

Ruder said after the school board approved the plan the community has responded favorably.

“We’re trying to plan all of this out to make sure it’s done and done well,” Ruder said. “It seems everybody in our community is supportive of it and rolling this out will be a good thing.”