School safety has become an increasingly discussed subject in recent years. Each school has its own philosophy and protocol to ensure a safe learning environment for students and faculty. In this article, we will look at Ipswich High School’s ideology and practices to ensure peace prevails. 

Ipswich High School, along with 6,497 other schools, implement the A.L.I.C.E. system for responding to an active threat within school grounds. A.L.I.C.E. is an acronym that stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate. It is not a step-by-step guide, but rather a set of possible actions that can be taken in threatening situations.

The first step in A.L.I.C.E. is Alert, which calls for awareness of one’s surroundings. This is an essential step, as the faster you can understand what is happening, the quicker you can respond. The Lockdown protocol involves creating a secure place to wait for assistance or a change in the situation, allowing one to consider different steps to make. Inform can take place through educational information beforehand, PA announcements, 911 calls, or plain speech to those nearby. Communication during this stage should be clear, direct, timely, and with the best accuracy possible. Counter does not mean fighting back, but rather minimizing the opposition’s effectiveness through creating a distracting, changing, and overwhelming environment of noise and movement.  Evacuate is the best option if you are able to do so safely and remove yourself from a dangerous scenario.

Preventing school threats is the best way to go about them. One way to do this is to report any suspicious behavior. If you see something, say something. However, the easiest way to keep people out of the school is to refrain from opening doors to those outside and propping doors open. Although it may be convenient to put a rock in front of the door you want to re-enter, this creates a potential safety hazard because it hinders our control of keeping unwanted and unauthorized individuals out. It may seem unkind not to open a side door for a friend or a fellow classmate, but the best thing you can do is advise them to enter through the front office doors. The front office is the only place where there is a monitor to filter those who can enter the building with permission from Ms. Kennedy. 

 Joe Perna, the school resource officer shares “There is no crystal ball to predict a threat. However, there are a few ways to be prepared, such as educating yourself about protocol and not opening side doors, which are the easiest and most effective methods of preparing for a possible threat to the safety of our school community.”