Sioux County, Iowa — Schools in Orange City and Hull have recently undergone what is called ALICE Training. ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evaluate, according to the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office.
Sioux County Deputy Waylon Pollema is the School Resource Officer with the Sheriff’s Office, and conducts the ALICE Training session, training teachers and students for a situation he prays they will never encounter.
The ALICE approach to dealing with a violent intruder came from the lessons learned in the aftermath of the April 20, 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. Prior to that time the standard operating procedure might best be described as “hide and hope.” Pollema says Columbine demonstrated that to be an ineffective response.
Pollema encourages teachers to mentally prepare themselves and have a plan for these types of situations. He says going over the plan with the students is a great way for the teachers to prepare.
Deputy Pollema says training is done with each individual classroom, where students were taught evacuations, room barricade techniques, and listening to their teacher in any situation at school.
Pollema says he isn’t the only ALICE certified trainer in Sioux County. He says several of the county’s city police departments have certified ALICE Trainers, as well, who do training in their city’s schools.
Photo Above: Students in one Sioux County school practice barricading their classroom door during ALICE Training
Photo Below: Classroom doors barricaded as part of their ALICE Training
