Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District rolling out new safety protocol, lockdown procedures

When Gregg Paladina mentioned ALICE, he wasn’t referring to a person.

On Saturday afternoon, the Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District superintendent discussed a safety protocol and lockdown procedure the district adopted this school year that goes by that acronym.

It stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate.

“The mission is to save as many lives as possible in the event of a threat at our schools,” Paladina said. “Research shows there are more deaths when people are asked to stay put, rather than leave the scene.”

The first part of ALICE is Alert. Paladina said if a “violent intruder” enters the school, staff and students would be informed about the situation with as much detail as possible.

“The previous lockdown alerts would tell students to remain in the room, be quiet and go to the corner of the room,” Paladina said. “Research found that protocol was more likely to put students at risk, because, in essence, they were sitting ducks. To minimize causalities, we ask them to respond to the situation, or get out and away from the risk or violent act.”

If there is no way to leave the scene, the procedure encourages staff and students to barricade the room or area where they’re located.

He said research was examined on the Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook massacres.

“In a first-grade classroom at Sandy Hook, every student lost their lives, but two,” Paladina said. “The two students were found sitting at the end of a neighbor’s driveway, but they ran out and survived. We hope and pray nothing like this happens at our schools, but we want to be prepared.”

Further safety measures at P-O schools include a camera system. At the high school, there is also a double-door system Paladina called a “mousetrap.”

Guests must be given permission from a staff member to enter through the first set of locked doors. There, the guest will sign in. After being cleared by staff, guests will be allowed through the second set of locked doors.

“This isn’t anything new,” Paladina said. “Schools in Centre and Clearfield counties have the same procedures.”

Paladina said he and district administrators drafted the plan in the summer, presented it to the school board and trained teachers about their responsibilities.

Those teachers, under direction of school principals, are responsible for also teaching students what they must do in an event.

“We used in-service days to do training with our administrators and staff, and let them know what we want students to do in these scenarios,” Paladina said.

Administrators received certification from the state, which allowed them to hold the training sessions.

Drills will be initiated after a Thursday night information meeting open to the public.

“We want parents to be informed with what we are asking of their child in certain scenarios,” Paladina said. “That’s the last step, and then we can have drills. They won’t be a one-time thing. We want to make sure everyone knows what they should be doing.”

Paladina also said part of administration and staff training included a scenario with pellet guns. In an open area that involved an active shooter, they were trained to run from the area.

“When they run, scatter and make noise, it creates confusion for the shooter and throws them off,” Paladina said. “We’re going to do our best to put these practices to use.”

This story was originally published January 9, 2016 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District rolling out new safety protocol, lockdown procedures."