Today the staff of Mount Vernon School District sat through a training for the Standard Response Protocol (SRP). Deputy VanHorn was very knowledgeable about this training and made the staff feel prepared in the event these would need to be implemented. Attached are the Information for Parents and Guardians, along with Parent Guidance. Please review and keep in a spot for easy reference.
The SRP is a nationally recognized, evidence-based program used by several thousands of school districts across this country. It focuses on simple, easy-to-understand actions that can quickly be implemented by staff and students across a wide variety of emergency situations.
The SRP is built around five standardized actions, each designed to improve safety during a specific emergency.
1. Hold- Stay inside the classroom and clear the hallways. This is NOT anything to be concerned with as a parent. Hold can be used for a mess that needs cleaning or a student may be having a medical emergency where we want the hallways to be clear for privacy reasons. No danger.
2. Secure- Get inside and stay inside. All outer doors are locked.
Parents: When a secure happens, it is because there is some unsafe event OUTSIDE of the school. Kids are brought inside to allow first responders to handle the event without having it affect the school. The students and staff go about their day normally; except they will not be outside. This also includes students that may get an open lunch hour or get to leave school for some other reason. They will stay in the school until the event in the community is over.
3. Lockdown- This is an event actively at the school. There may be an inclination as a parent to go to the school. We understand that. If a lockdown should ever occur, Law Enforcement will be responding, and the school will be completely locked down.
4. Evacuate- Moving the students and staff out of the school for some hazard and moving to a different location.
5. Shelter- For environmental concerns such as tornadoes.
This training aligns the school districts with regional first responder protocols, which improves first responder response and communication.
-It allows students and staff to practice clear, repeatable actions which is shown to reduce anxiety and confusion.
-Training for the students will be taught in an age-appropriate manner. Remember, we do not do anything to cause any anxiety or strife for the students.
I have attached the parent handout for the SRP to this post, which goes more in depth about the actions and hopefully answers any questions. Please reach out to Deputy VanHorn with any questions.