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<p>BEAR CREEK TWP. &#8212; The days of hunkering down in a locked room when a gunman enters a school have faded, replaced with a flexible response notion of &#8220;run, hide, fight.&#8221;</p><p>Bear Creek Community Charter School is hosting a two-day program designed to spread these new techniques by training attendees to train others.</p><p>The program goes by the acronym ALICE &#8212; Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate &#8212; and Bear Creek Chief Executive Officer Jim Smith said he became a fan after taking the two-day training session himself at an Allentown charter school.</p><p>&#8220;We researched multiple programs and found that, quite simply, the ALICE strategies make sense,&#8221; Smith wrote in an email. He added that &#8220;the strategies are practical and can be applied to many scenarios and environments.&#8221;</p><p>According to the ALICE Training Institute website, founder Greg Crane was a law enforcement officer in the Dallas/Fort Worth area who, following the Columbine shootings, felt the practice of locking down students in a room (as was done in the school where his wife was principal) only made students easier targets.</p><p>The website touts the system as &#8220;the first program in the country to use option-based, proactive survival strategies to prepare for active shooter events,&#8221; though in one article Crane pointedly says he prefers the term Violent Critical Incident because attacks can be made without a gun.</p><p>Anyone who completes the training at Bear Creek Aug. 6 and 7 will be a &#8220;Certified ALICE Instructor and have the knowledge and resources to train others based on your role in the community,&#8221; according to the announcement the school sent out inviting people to register.</p><p>Registration is first come, first served, with 50 slots open for the class, though Smith said &#8220;if we receive an overwhelming response, we may consider scheduling a second class.&#8221; There are no restrictions on who can register.</p><p>&#8220;We would like to attract a diverse group, including educators, law enforcement, religious leaders and private-sector business representatives,&#8221; Smith said. The training is applicable in many settings, and from his own experience in Allentown &#8220;I found that participating with a diverse group brings forward different perspectives which we all can learn from.&#8221;</p><p>The cost is $695, though the registration website at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1RcsmcS8cY" target="_blank">cvent.com</a> offers an &#8220;early bird&#8221; discount at $595. For more information on ALICE, visit <a href="https://www.alicetraining.com/" target="_blank">alicetraining.com</a>.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Crane </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_Greg-Crane-1.jpeg</photo0><caption0>Crane </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Active-shooter training coming to Bear Creek charter school