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My name is Michael Pierce, and I am responding to this as a teacher at Warwick Vets. I appreciate the work of our SRO officers, and commend the efforts that are being made to improve the safety of students in our building and district.

I do have a major issue with one part of the article above, where it states:

"The major educational program taught in Warwick is “Run, Hide, Fight,” which instructs students and staff to either escape a dangerous situation, hide and barricade themselves if escaping isn’t possible and, as a last resort, physically defending themselves if they encounter an individual who clearly intends to do them harm."

Run, Hide, Fight is absolutely the right approach. The problem is that this article implies that all staff and students have been trained in this "major educational program." That is not true. Gorton and Aldrich did "Alice" training for their teachers about 4 years ago, but it certainly has not been carried out district wide.. The student body has NOT been trained in this at all. The only drill students do is the lock down where students hide in the classroom. Teachers are not aware that the district has officially adopted any practice other than the classroom lockdown.

If this is "major educational program" that is being taught, it is extremely well hidden. People in my building who are on the Safety Committee had no awareness of this whatsoever.

The safety of our students is of the utmost importance, and we therefore need to be clear about what has and has not been accomplished. I hope that in the near future that this training is implemented.