By Tim DeLouchrey
Sports Liaison

On February 14th, students went through ALICE training. This consisted of three different scenarios as well as a class assembly. Students went through the scenarios in different order to avoid congesting the halls, but at one point or another, each student participated in an evacuation, the construction of a barricade, and an intruder breaching the classroom with a discussion regarding how students would fight back should an intruder ever enter the classroom.

Students and teachers had conflicting opinions on the usefulness, as well as sense of reality the drills brought forth.

“I don’t think a lot of people took it very seriously,” said sophomore Joelle Bosia.

School student resource officer Justin Agraz pointed out the lack of effort amongst students after the evacuation drill. He explained that he understood students weren’t trying their hardest because it was only a drill, but that in a real life scenario, he expected students to be running in the hallways, not speed walking.

“It was actually taken very seriously by my class,” said English teacher Rosemary Dowd. “I had a freshmen class and I think they did a great job.”

Dowd continued to go on to say that she thinks the drills should be “[done] in a different classroom.” This was a common complaint amongst students and staff alike was the fact that the drill was only done in one classroom. Some people said they thought it would be much more effective if they had experiences in a variety of places throughout the building.

“I think maybe once every other week we should go over these procedures. Maybe in a different classroom each time,” said sophomore Colin Eddy.

English teacher Brian Mahoney suggested that administration should take one whole day to practice these so one could understand what to do from each class on their schedule.

“An English classroom is much different than a chemistry classroom,” said Mahoney. “You could take a whole day to go through your whole schedule, or maybe you could just make the school more uniform and give every individual room a plan of attack.”

According to Dean Bob Ware, more ALICE drills will be conducted in different classrooms later this year.

Though going through every students entire schedule could be highly beneficial, getting students to endure a whole day of training could be difficult based on the criticism the two hour block received from students. Some feel that the drills were a waste of time as is.

“I feel like in an actual situation, no one is going to think back to these drills,” said junior Allan Desrochers.

Not all students however, felt this way about the drills. Some, such as senior Ben Woodward, thought it was a good experience.

“I thought it was very enlightening,” said Woodward.

Before the ALICE training, students were accustomed to lockdown procedures. Friday’s training was supposed to get students accustomed to thinking in a more proactive mindset. The goal was to help students feel prepared for any potential threat in the school.

“I think it was good to know what we should do in a time of crisis … it’s important to be prepared for something if that actually does happen,” said senior Ali Garvin.

Jason Humphrey, a WA English teacher, thought that the drills were not only useful to school itself, but that everyone should carry these lessons with them no matter where they are.

“I think it was great. The thing that’s most important is that this type of training isn’t just if you’re at this school, it’s if you’re at a movie theater, a mall, a college campus, wherever you could be this is that thought process to take everywhere,” said Humphrey. “That’s why I think it’s an effective training tool not only here, but everywhere.”