PESHTIGO, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Forced to decide within seconds, teachers now have to worry about how they’ll protect their students from an active shooter.
“This training kind of gets you emotional,” said Laura Finger a fourth-grade teacher.
Teachers and staff at Peshtigo School District received ALICE training on Tuesday.
“Originally, we were trained to just go in the corner and hide. But now that I do have all the knowledge I learned today, I feel better prepared on what to do with my students,” said Finger.
ALICE is an acronym Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate
Peshtigo and Marinette police officers walked school staff through active shooter scenarios.
Peshtigo Police Lieutenant Jared Phillips tells FOX 11…
“There are different types of decisions that teachers can make, staff members can make prior to us arriving on the scene. Every situation presents something different”
School superintendent Patrick Rau tells FOX 11 Peshtigo was one of the schools that received a safety grant from the department of justice.
“So we’re doing some security upgrades at the middle school and high school.”
Rau says the new security cameras have even more coverage. Alarms are also being added to side doors and emergency locks to classrooms.
“The active shooter situations are a bigger threat than fires in schools and tornados in schools, yet we practice fire drills and tornado drills on a more regular basis,” said Rau.
“That’s something we want to flip here in Peshtigo so that our students, our parents feel safe.”
Laura Finger says after ALICE training, she feels more prepared as a teacher and as a mother.
