A.L.I.C.E. Protocol on January 6th, 2026

By: Lily Bozenski

It has been almost 2 months since the A.L.I.C.E protocol at Exeter High School on January 6, 2026, and the repercussions are still being felt.

The alarm went off during second lunch, which resulted in many students in the cafeteria evacuating, flooding the cafeteria exits. Students in their classrooms either barricaded or fled, some running miles away from the school. Several teachers followed. Many teachers eventually received an email saying that the alarm was set off by accident, and that they should remain where they are until told otherwise to give the police time to search the school. After several more minutes, teachers were given the signal to either come out of hiding or return to the school.

I personally ended up hiding in a science room, which meant I knew I was secure in a prep room– somewhere a shooter would not be likely to check. I consider myself lucky to have that reassurance, because many students didn't. I have talked to several people who truly believed that either themselves or people they cared about in the school would die. I can still go back and reread frantic texts from my friends bidding final goodbyes. I have spoken to many people who truly believed they were going to die, or truly believed their family members were dead. Just because there was not a real threat, doesn’t mean the fear wasn’t real. This event has been deeply traumatizing for a large portion of the EHS population. 

This is not the first time this has happened; the class of 2026 experienced a near identical event in our sixth grade year at the Cooperative Middle School. Having a repeated event like this only worsens how traumatic the reaction can be, especially to be told afterwards that it’s all okay because it wasn’t real. The fact of the matter is that even if there was no shooter, the situation is not okay. 

A major issue that sticks out about this most recent A.L.I.C.E. protocol is how dangerous the current system feels. The cafeteria exits quickly clogged, meaning it took a long amount of time for everyone to get out. If there had been a real shooter, this would have endangered the lives of everyone in the cafeteria. Additionally, when an emergency is occurring, no one remembers where the rally points are to meet at. So there is a situation like what happened on January 6th where everyone evacuating just runs as far as they can. This is almost identical to what happened at CMS. I acknowledge that we’re all still learning how to appropriately respond to this kind of situation and it’s difficult to make the protocol perfect, but there is a lot that can be learned from this incident and it has become evident at least some of the policy needs to be reformed. 

Overall however, the most disappointing part is the response to the issue in the weeks that followed the alarm. While guidance counselors were made available to talk with any students who needed it, most did not know they had this option and instead suffered the trauma they faced in silence. On top of this, very little information about what actually caused the incident has been released, leading to rumors and speculation. This only causes more fear to grow around the situation, and with the secure campus that happened not long after, anxiety around safety at school has been rapidly increasing among many. 

I recognize it is impossible to perform perfectly in an emergency; however, the incident that occurred on January 6th clearly did not go well. Instead of simply moving on from this and dismissing it as being fine because there was no real threat, this should be treated as an opportunity to reexamine the current policies and make some much needed changes to school safety.