CARIBOU, Maine — In the wake of the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, RSU 39 is looking at ways to improve student safety locally, including possibly adding a school resource officer.
During a Feb. 28 board meeting, RSU 39 Superintendent Tim Doak said he is looking at installing buzzer systems and cameras in district school buildings. He added that the new PreK-8 school will have several safety features built in, such as tempered glass.
The superintendent also suggested training faculty and students in a shooter response program called ALICE, an acronym that stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter, and evacuate.
Roughly 20 Aroostook County law enforcement officials received ALICE certification during an Aug. 2 and 3 training session at Houlton Middle School. The program differs from standard mass shooting procedures as it not only encourages hiding from a potential shooter, but also escaping the building if there is a clear path and, if no other options are available, attempting to fight or overpower the shooter.
“The program is basically run, hide, or fight,” Doak told board members. “In our old plans, you always had to hide, no matter where you were in the building. We’ve come a long way since Columbine. So if you can run, you should. If someone is near an intercom and they say ‘We have an active shooter on the second floor of the building,’ and you hear that in the gym, then you should run.”
Some parents, according to Doak, have requested metal detectors in RSU 39 schools, which he said he has priced out and will consider, adding that, at this point, he’s considering any suggestions.
“I strongly believe in resource officers,” he said, “and I think our schools need one. At some point, hopefully, the funding will be there, and if not, maybe locals can help with that. I’ve spoken to [Caribou Police] Chief [Michael] Gahagan about having an officer at the school and paying for some of the costs.”
RSU 39 recently adopted a policy in which school staff send parents a text and email, and publish a Facebook post if anything unusual occurs. The term “soft lockdown” is also being changed to “stay put time” according to the superintendent, so as not to confuse the two situations.
He said “stay put time” could occur as a result of a stranger sitting in a school parking lot for an extended period of time, a student running through the hall screaming, or if a disgruntled parent causes a commotion in the building.
“They probably shouldn’t last for more than an hour,” Doak told school board members, “and we’ll still send something home for ‘stay put,’ like, ‘Today we had a stay put period over a disgruntled parent for fifteen minutes.”
He added that, “if we don’t inform people, they think we’re hiding things from them.”
Board Chairperson Tanya Sleeper agreed, and said that students could go home and “embellish the story” of a soft lockdown or “stay put’ period, exacerbating a relatively innocuous situation.
Board member Betheny Anderson asked Doak if there was a time frame in which police officers could start making an appearance at the school.
“Chief Gahagan and I talked about it a few days ago,” Doak said. “He will throw some numbers back to us and we’ll see if we can fit it into next year’s budget. The parents I’ve spoken to say this makes them so much more comfortable.”
Board member Michelle Albert suggested building relationships with students at a young age, ensuring they stay mentally healthy.
“There are, at times, triggers you can see in a child,” Albert said, “and you can say maybe they need some counseling, or an adult who can mentor them. We need to do more of that.”
Doak agreed, and said mental health is a crucial aspect of the issue.
“If my heart goes bad, I go to the doctor,” he said. “If my liver breaks down, I go to the doctor, but if my mind starts to break down, I don’t go to the doctor; I try to deal with it on my own. Mental health is a huge piece of this, and having more counselors in schools helping kids with anger management and conflict resolution issues, and just what they’re seeing at home, will help.”
Doak said he and [RSU 39 Business Manager Mark Bouchard] will work on the budget and see if it’s possible to fill in some extra positions to fit these needs.
“I want people to know we’re not just sitting on our hands,” he said. “We’re being proactive.”
Anderson added that the administration is “reacting quickly” to everything.
“It’s not an easy time,” said Doak.
