Unit 4 will be voting on several parent requests regarding active shooter drills in the upcoming school year, including an unannounced drill and an opt-out option. The School Board for Unit 4 meets Monday, August 12th (they usually start at 5:30pm, but the agenda isn't up yet here). From the News-Gazette today:
School board to vote on revised safety plans following complaintsFull article available on the website here and the eEdition here. Previous Cheat Sheet post with links and information on the last "reunification drill" here. Last year at the Unit 4 School Board there was an extended discussion on issues involving active shooter drills in a presentation on "Crisis Planning" with Dr. Jennifer Ivory-Tatum & Orlando Thomas. That video is available here with the full presentation beginning at the 27 minute mark and a relevant active shooter drill discussion starting at just before the 45 minute mark. An early public version of the parent letter outlining their requests is available here in PDF form.
School board members will vote Monday on a revised plan of A.L.I.C.E (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) drill implementation across the district, including adding a social worker and parents to district crisis planning processes, as well as a commitment to only have one, announced drill this school year...
When some parents discovered that a September 2018 draft of the crisis plan called for two ALICE drills — one announced and one unannounced — they wondered why both were needed.
And as they did more research, they wondered how students and staff would benefit from the unannounced one.
“Unannounced drills violate the best-practice standards of professional organizations such as the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and Safe and Sound Schools,” the letter read...
Superintendent Susan Zola said Thursday that for the 2019-20 school year, there will be no unannounced drills — a change from the original plan presented informationally to the school board last year...
On Monday, parents will find out whether all five of their requests — which include revising the ALICE presentation to students to be more “developmentally appropriate” and adding an “opt-out” option — have been incorporated and whether the board will approve the revision. Zola said the district is looking at revising the student presentation, as well as starting the opt-out option with “students with Individualized Education Plans or 504s or students who have sensory concerns.”
