School Safety Concerns

IVY JACOBS FILE PHOTO - In 2018, Clay Community Schools Superintendent Jeff Fritz spoke at the Clay County Fire Chiefs’ meeting about ALICE. Fritz has been at the center of school safety during his long career as an educator.

After numerous high-profile shootings throughout the country in recent weeks, especially at Uvalde, TX, many people are concerned for the safety of their kids in school.

Superintendent Jeff Fritz understands their concerns; that is why safety has been a top priority for years.

Clay Community Schools has many safety measures, programs, and protocols in place, including technology, training exercises, facility upgrades, and ALICE.

ALICE is an active shooting program that provides training for students and school employees. ALICE Training is a lead active shooter training in the United States, and CCS has had it in place for several years. The training is research-based and age- and ability-appropriate and includes strategies to empower those in crisis situations to make life-saving decisions in the face of extreme danger.

Even school bus drivers have particular training if a mass shooter event occurs.

“School safety is our top priority,” said Fritz. “I’m a Superintendent, father, and grandfather; I was a Principal and a teacher, so this issue is dear to my heart.”

What happened in Uvalde, TX, is heartbreaking. Fritz said the safety measures for all schools would continue in the future and will be reviewing plans on an ongoing basis.

“We have school resource officers (SROs) in the school corporation,” he said. “They do a terrific job.”

There are some safety measures in place that are not for public knowledge.

Fritz said safety protocols are reviewed at the monthly administrative meetings and training is ongoing.

The Brazil Police Department, Clay County Sheriff’s Department, and Indiana State Police are ready for such an incident.

The Brazil Police Department, Clay County Sheriff’s Department, and Indiana State Police are ready for such an incident.

“Our protocol if an active shooter incident occurs is the first officer on the scene is going in,” said Chief Deputy Josh Clarke. “We are going in there to save lives. School safety is a priority for our department. Many of our officers have children in school. So it’s very important.”

The problem is that active shooters are not just targeting schools. These individuals are beginning to target “the day-to-day” things of life, bringing attention to public places, such as churches, malls, grocery stores, movie theaters, outdoor concerts, and restaurants.

There are no specific targets with the recent mass shootings in the past week. Anyone can become a target during an active shooter situation.

“Usually, what’s motivating these shootings is an element of self-hatred, hopelessness, despair, anger, that’s turned outward to the world,” said James Densley, a sociologist, and co-founder of The Violence Project, which studies gun violence, mass shootings, and violent extremism.

Local officials are worried like everyone else and encourage the public to at least take proactive action for their safety and that of their families.

Make a plan when going in public. As hard as it is to consider an active shooter event in the community, planning and thinking about what you would do if confronted could be the difference in staying alive.

Information about the ALICE Training program is available online at info.alicetraining.com, and on youtube by searching for the ALICE TRAINING video.

ALICE - an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate -provides training techniques to use in case of threat of a violent intruder or active shooter situation occurs.