VALLEY, Ala. – You’ve likely heard of students bringing canned food to school for food drives, but have you ever heard of bringing a canned food item to school for safety? 
 
 A letter sent to parents of students at one school in Chambers County requested just that — students were asked to arm themselves with an eight ounce canned food item. 
 
 Though it sounds odd, administrators believe the practice could catch potential intruders off guard, possibly even knocking him or her out until police arrive. 
 
 In the letter to parents, W.F. Burns Middle School Principal Priscilla Holley said, “As a result of school shootings throughout the United States and discussing with law enforcement on the best procedure to follow to keep our students safe, we are enhancing our procedure for intruders.” 
 
 The idea to arm students with something like a can or a book comes from ALICE training. The ALICE acronym stands for: Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate. 
 
 “I can honestly say that the major point of the the training… is to be able to get kids evacuated and not be sitting ducks hiding under desks,” Superintendent of Chambers County Schools Dr. Kelli Hodge said. 
 
 Hodge said school systems in 30 states teach the principles of ALICE to students. Auburn University also uses ALICE on its campus. 
 
 The ALICE program falls in line with new guidelines for school safety issued by the Department of Education in 2013. 
 
 “Understandably, this is a sensitive topic. There is no single answer for what to do, but a survival mindset can increase the odds of surviving,” the Department of Education said. “There are three basic options: run, hide, or fight. You can run away from the shooter, seek a secure place where you can hide and/or deny the shooter access, or incapacitate the shooter to survive and protect others from harm.” 
 
 Feedback on the Chambers County Schools program has been somewhat mixed since the letter went home to parents. Hodge said the majority of negative responses have come via Facebook, and often times by people who don’t have children in Chambers County Schools. When WHNT News 19 contacted Hodge, she said her office had received two phone calls and one email about the ALICE program. 
 
 In the letter, Principal Holley said students who are armed with a canned food item will have a sense of empowerment to protect themselves in the event an intruder enters their classroom. 
 
 For more information about the ALICE program, click here. 
 
 Read the letter sent home to W.F. Burns Middle School parents here: 

 Story highlights Alabama students were asked to bring canned goods for school security 
 
 Cans or other heavy items could be used to fight school shooters 
 
 It's part of a larger school district plan to empower students 
 
 (CNN) When is a can of beans more than just a can of beans? 
 
 When it's a weapon of self-defense for students to throw at an armed intruder who has just entered their school. 
 
 That's one scenario Valley, Alabama, officials are considering as part of their training to respond to school shootings. 
 
 Though it may strike some as an insignificant and perhaps even silly response to a deadly problem, it's no joke at W.F. Burns Middle School. 
 
 It's part of active shooter response training offered by the ALICE Training Institute, a company founded by a former police officer and former elementary school principal. 
 
 Read More 

 You pretty much can’t ignore a New York Times headline that says “Alabama: School May Arm Students With Canned Peas.” And it’s exactly what it sounds like: 
 
 A middle school principal wants to stockpile cans of corn and peas in classrooms for students to hurl at possible intruders as a last defense. 
 
 Thank Principal Priscella Holley of W. F. Burns Middle School in Chambers County, Alabama, for this brainstorm. She sent a letter home to parents asking them to have their kids bring eight-ounce canned items to school so they can fling ’em at the bad guys. How’s this for persuasive? 
 
 The can “could stun the intruder or even knock him out until the police arrive,” Ms. Holley wrote. “The canned food item will give the students a sense of empowerment to protect themselves and will make them feel secure.” 
 
 It’s not an entirely insane idea. Al Franken said that after 9/11, he always carried three baseballs in his carry-on because he’s got a deadly accurate fastball and wanted to have something to take down a terrorist. Then again, he was, at the time, a professional satirist; as a senator, he has not introduced any Hurl Things For School Safety legislation. 
 
 It’s not clear where Holley came up with the idea to bean intruders with actual beans, but it’s no more insane than some other brilliant ideas for keeping kids safe while ensuring that Americans have access to high-powered weaponry everywhere. Within a week of the Sandy Hook massacre, libertarian wackaloon Megan McArdle said that, short of limiting firearms, the best solution would be to “encourage people to gang rush shooters” instead of hiding, and to teach school children the value of a suicidal banzai charge. And then there were the Oklahoma entrepreneurs who want to sell schools semi-bulletproof nap mats — only $1000 each — that will provide a genuine sense of false security while sheltering in place. And they could maybe protect kids from tornados, too! 
 
 Also, too, there are the more long-term societal changes that could prevent school shootings, like not letting schools be such feminized places where there are no men to protect women and children. Also, teaching morals, like “No, you should not shoot up a school,” could help. A Tennessee preacher figured that school shootings happen because teaching evolution has caused people to act like animals (also, abortion). And a Tea Party activist explained that getting rid of teachers’ unions would probably stop school shootings, though not as much as giving up on schools altogether and just homeschooling your kids. 
 
 In other words, chucking cans of creamed corn at an intruder is starting to sound pretty damned reasonable. 
 
 [NYT] 

 W-F Burns Middle School in Alabama Students told to throw cans at a shooter Posted: Tuesday, January 13, 2015 10:42 PM EST Updated: Tuesday, January 13, 2015 10:54 PM EST Posted:Updated: 
 
 Columbia County parents say their kids have been hours late for school 
 
 The "Alice" emergency plan is used by over 15-hundred school districts across the country, and is meant to be used in active shooter situations. 
 
 
 
 Auburn University released this video showing the five aspects of the plan. 
 
 Alice is an acronym for alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate. In the video, the counter strategy involves throwing textbooks at the intruder to stop the attack. 
 
 
 
 For W-F Burns Middle School, they've asked students to bring in canned goods for the same purpose. 
 
 Dr. Kelli Moore Hodge, Chambers County Schools Superintendent, "their safety and security is the number one thing we are looking at here, and we're trying to give them options, rather than make them sitting ducks." 
 
 
 
 The letter sent home to parents has been shared nationwide and has raised some concern about the school's plan for an emergency situation. 
 
 Dr. Kelli Moore Hodge, Chambers County Schools Superintendent, "the negativity that we have seen has been put out there on facebook." 
 
 
 
 Chambers County Superintendent Kelli Hodge says the part about canned goods is such a small part of the emergency plan, but she apologizes for sending the letter without educating parents beforehand. 
 
 
 
 Dr. Kelli Moore Hodge, Chambers County Schools Superintendent, "this one very tiny piece got taken out of context of the whole picture." 
 
 
 
 Hodge says the number one goal during an active shooter situation would be evacuation. Throwing cans or textbooks would be considered a last possible option. 
 
 Dr. Moore Hodge, "what alice promotes is that you have objects around the classroom that are available to you that you can throw, and kids can run out of the room, you know, if that's ... but that is the very, very last resort and the very, very smallest part of this entire training." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

– With school threats, shootings, and lockdowns in the news at a dizzying pace, educators are naturally looking at ways to keep kids safe. But while those measures typically include security guards or metal detectors, one Alabama middle school is raising more than a few eyebrows by asking parents to arm their children—with canned goods. As WHNT tells it, WF Burns Middle School Principal Priscella Holley recently sent home a letter that began, "We realize at first this may seem odd," and went on to contend that a well-chucked can "could stun the intruder or even knock him out until the police arrive. The canned food item will give the students a sense of empowerment to protect themselves and will make them feel secure." Parents are asked to give their child an 8-ounce can ("corn, beans, peas, etc.") to bring to school. An administrator tells CNN that the canned-peas defense is part of ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate) training it implements "to get kids evacuated and not be sitting ducks hiding under desks." She tells WJBF that the school has seen some "negativity" in response "out there on Facebook," and that it's "the very, very last resort and the very, very smallest part of this entire training." Wonkette runs through a list of ideas it deems much worse, before concluding, "In other words, chucking cans of creamed corn at an intruder is starting to sound pretty damned reasonable." (Schools in South Carolina might take a different approach.)