Union Wants Law After Teachers Shot With Pellets During ALICE Training

The Indiana State Teachers Association says teachers at a northern Indiana school were shot with pellets during active shooter training.

Indiana Statehouse

(Indianapolis, Ind.) - The Indiana State Teachers Association is releasing more information about an active shooter training that injured teachers. 

A representative of the state's largest teacher union testified on the matter in front of the Senate Education and Career Development Committee on Wednesday, March 20.

The representative claimed some teachers at Meadowland Elementary in Monticello, part of the Twin Lakes school district, were taken into a classroom and shot execution style with pellets, causing welts and blood to be drawn. 

ISTA Vice President Keith Gambill said educators should never have to endure being fired at with pellets in an active shooter training.

“What happened to the educators in Twin Lakes is unconscionable and unacceptable. ISTA is fighting to make sure no other educators in Indiana face the kind of fear-based, injurious training again. ISTA is asking for a simple amendment that would prohibit a school or district from conducting or authorizing an active shooter drill where any school employee or student may have any type of projectile fired at their person,” said Gambill.

The testimony was given in an effort to get lawmakers to add limits and safety precautions during ALICE trainings in schools into an education bill.   

No one in education takes these drills lightly. The risk of harming someone far outweighs whatever added realism one is trying to convey here. ISTA requests an amendment in bill so that more reasonable limits are placed on these drills.

— Indiana State Teachers Association (@ISTAmembers) March 20, 2019