School Department Officials To Introduce A.L.i.C.E Thursday Night

The Wilmington School Department was already well along in the process of investigating new safety protocols in mid-December.

But when a gunman murdered 26 people, including 20 children, in the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., the project took on much greater significance.

On Thursday, parents and the general public are invited to the Wilmington Middle School Auditorium for an informational meeting on the school department's new safety protocols. Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate, or A.L.i.C.E., will be fully implemented in Wilmington High School and the Middle School this year and in all Wilmington schools by the fall.

To this point, lockdown protocols in the Wilmington schools have been limited to locking the doors of each classroom and moving the students to an area of the room where they cannot been seen, while waiting for the "all clear" to sound.

"The A.L.i.C.E. plan offers a different philosophy in light of recent school violence. The philosophy of A.L.i.C.E. is to use technology and information in a way so that staff and students can make informed decisions, " Superintendent of Schools Joanne Benton wrote in a letter sent home to parents. "In a crisis, this program recommends removing as many people as possible from the danger zone, and provides realistic training so that those involved in a crisis have a better chance of surviving."

Details on the A.L.i.C.E. protocols will be gone over in detail at the informational meeting, which is scheduled to run from 7 to 9 p.m.

Among those in attendance to explain the program and answer questions will be Lt. Scott Sencabaugh of the Wilmington Police Department and members of the Wilmington Public School Safety Committee.