In the 2019-2020 school year at Penns Valley, there has been a new lockdown system introduced across the district; this new system is called Alice. 

The old system that was practiced in the school district was a system where when the lockdown took place the classrooms would lock the door, turn off the lights and all the teachers and students in the rooms would hide in a corner of the room. The new system Alice has the students and teachers put up barricades and have students grab heavy objects to throw at the intruder once he/she got in the room. Also apart from Alice, there is an app system in place on the teacher’s phones that can tell where the intruder is based on messages from teachers around the school. Then, on the announcement system, someone will come and broadcast where the intruder is and those classes in the clear would evacuate.

On November 1st I found a student at Penns Valley (Evelyn Powell)  who would give me her opinion on the new system and how much better or worse she thinks it is from the old system. She said that the old system wasn’t terrible, but having a new system where you get to do more to protect yourself the new system is better. If we were to go back to the old drill Evelyn would feel less safe and annoyed because there’s a better way that we know how to do a lockdown. If she were in a real lockdown what system would she use? The answer is A.L.I.C.E. During a real lockdown Evelyn would feel safer doing the self-defense job.

Even though the old drill was affected in some cases taking more precautions to the safety of students, teachers, and anyone else in a school is better than just hiding in a corner. This new lockdown drill has affected the students and how they look at saftey not only is it good to have a view on what the students think, it’s also good to reflect on the safety feature of the drill. I hope this article shared some effective viewpoint on the subject coming from a student themselves.