On Sept. 12, 2023, DGS had its annual ALICE training. ALICE stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate. This serves as training in the event that an active shooter comes to a school.

The ALICE training was first created in 2000 by Greg Crane, a police officer in Texas, who was concerned for his wife’s safety after the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. He wanted to ensure a plan that could be more effective and safe in the event of a shooting, as the original plan was to lock the doors, turn off the lights and shelter in place until law enforcement arrives. According to the ALICE website, their training numbers have reached over 18,908,600 people and over 5,500 K-12 schools, including DGS.

ALICE has been a system DGS has been utilizing since 2015, according to Associate Principal Omar Davis.

“We use it with our BluePoint system in order to alert and update students as to where a potential shooter might be,” Davis said.

BluePoint is similar to a fire alarm, as it informs the police that there’s a violent event happening at the school. It flashes and creates a sound alarm, different from the fire alarm, to avoid confusion.

ALICE training has sparked controversy over the years as it has been accused of being a traumatizing experience for students. This is because the hands-on training with actors is done with all ages, including smaller children. The plan at DGS does not include hands-on training, but the full ALICE training does.

The chance that an individual or a school will experience a shooting is low and varies depending on the state the school is in.  Senior Estee Raceala gives her thoughts on the ALICE program.

“Doing the training is nerve-wracking, because it’s scary to think that it might actually happen one of these days,” Raceala said.