Wake school system administrators are already being trained on the school system's new safety response system and schools, students and community members will start training in March.
The Standard Response Protocol replaces the 'code red' system next school year. The protocol uses action words, such as "lockdown," to make directions more clear.
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The school system, like many across North Carolina and the nation, has adopted the Standard Response Protocol. That's a set of five types of response to various potential safety emergencies, such as evacuating in the event of a bomb threat.
It's created by the I Love U Guys Foundation, a Colorado-based school safety nonprofit, and the Wake school board adopted it in August.
Administrators received training in October directly from the foundation in a "train the trainer" session hosted by the state's Center for Safer Schools in Greenville.
The Standard Response Protocol pairs with the Standard Reunification Method in the event of a more serious threat that ends the school day early.
School system officials presented the plan to the school board's safety and security committee Wednesday afternoon, largely concentrating on the evolving plans for reunification—the process of reuniting students with their parents in the event a school is dismissed early or evacuated.
The district also has a reunification plan, but officials will conduct more drills for it to evaluate what works well and what doesn't.
"The drilling is probably going to be the most important piece," Kendrick Scott, the district's senior director of the Office of Security, told the committee. "I think practice is what's going to really drive it."
The Standard Response Protocol
The "Standard Response Protocol" consists of five possible measures an organization would take in responding to an emergency, such as one caused by an intruder, a weather event, fire or some other type of accident or incident.
Those five measures are:
· Hold, indicated by a purple symbol, is used to tell people to stay in their room or area and keep out of hallways.
· Secure, indicated by a blue symbol, is used to tell people to get inside and lock doors.
· Lockdown, indicated by a red symbol, is used to tell people to lock their doors, turn out their lights and stay out of sight.
· Evacuate, indicated by a green symbol, is used to tell people to leave their location and, sometimes, which one to go to instead.
· Shelter, indicated by an orange symbol, is used to tell people of a hazard, such as a tornado, and what safety strategies they should take.
Most of the measures are similar to protocols already used by the district, but called something else. "Hold" would be a new directive.
Under both "Hold" and "Secure," school business would take place as usual, but with doors locked and attendance taken.
The Standard Reunification Method
The Standard Reunification Method involves six steps:
· Greeting: Meeting families as they arrive at the school
· Card Completion: Having families fill out paper cards stating who they are and who their students are
· Verify ID: Verifying parents' and guardians' identities.
· Reunification Area: Directing people to the area where they may be reunited with their children
· Accountability: Making sure every student is accounted for
The school system will have "runners" who go between families and the school to retrieve each family's student, one by one. If the school has three runners, three families will be reunited at a time.
That process may be too slow when families want to just call their children and ask if they are OK, Board Member Sam Hershey said. He said it may be appropriate for elementary-age children who need more guidance but not for high school students.
"I could see that taking hours," Hershey said.
Scott said the district may adjust based on drills set to take place later this year, including deciding when to use electronic tools instead of paper cards. Paper cards will still work in the event phone lines are tied up or other electronic communication methods aren't working, which can happen in emergencies, Scott said.
"It's not the fastest process, I see what you're saying," Scott said. "But in this case, I'd rather be slow and make sure students are left with the correct parent than speed up a process just for the sake of being faster."
In a true emergency, Scott said he believed many teachers would allow their students to use their phones to contact their families.
Board members also pressed Scott over how to make sure parents coming to school to pick up their kids doesn't prevent emergency vehicles from being able to get to the school, if needed. Many times, parents pick their kids up during a lockdown, even if it's a false alarm, and no safety issue is found.
Superintendent Robert Taylor said crowds of cars have prevented emergency vehicles from getting through before.
Scott said that the school system is doing a better job of guiding parents when an emergency doesn't require them to pick up their child and when a situation is under control, and schools that go in lockdown don't see as many parents arriving as they used to.
He also said police are aware of the possibility of cars backing up roads by a school and that they often send reinforcements to the school right away to prevent a traffic backup.
