, 
, 
Luverne elementary and middle/high school staff was tested Monday and Tuesday in a series of mock intruder trainings at the American Reformed Church in Luverne.
More than 200 school employees participated in ALICE training, a set of proactive strategies that increase chances of survival during an active shooter event.
Each participant received a passing grade.
“Act or react — there’s no right or wrong decision,” said Wade Hiller, the district’s technology coordinator and ALICE trainer. “It’s what you decide to do in the heat of the moment.”
ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate.
“ALICE is not sequential,” Hiller explained. “Just tools to get as far away from the shooter as possible.”
Hiller along with fellow school trainees Angie Sneller, Angie Sandbulte, Craig Oftedahl, Rock County Sheriff Evan Verbrugge and deputy Lee Christians led the trainings.
In late September, teachers will take their newly learned skills back to the classroom for ALICE week, five days of instructions to students on how they can keep themselves safe against intruders.
ALICE empowers individuals to take control.
“We want to get rid of the ‘lock-down’ mentality,” said Sheriff Verbrugge. “If you can get out (of the building), get out.”
In the first mock shooting scenario, participants enacted the typical response to a shooter in the building by closing the classroom door and hiding under tables.
The result of the lockdown-only reaction was 25 out of the 27 participants were “shot” with plastic pellets.
Later, using ALICE tools, participants enacted the first scenario again.
The result drastically reduced the number of participants “shot” to just one.
Verbrugge said outside help takes 5 to 10 minutes to reach the location of the intruder.
Using newly learned ALICE skills, participants evaded the attacker, counter-reacted to distract the intruder while escaping, or locked themselves out of harm’s way in a matter of seconds.
“We want to be empowered,” Hiller said.
The school’s ALICE committee received a $2,000 grant from the Lyon County Riverboat Foundation for training materials.