The Standard Response Protocol:
As a district, we have shifted to the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) to organize our coordinated response to any and all emergency situations. The SRP is a uniform, planned, and practiced response to any incident that is action-based, flexible, and easy to learn. It rationally organizes tactics for response to weather events, fires, accidents, intruders, and other threats to personal safety. The implementation is being coordinated
The SRP’s development is ever-evolving, created with extensive collaboration between experts such as first responders, public safety, school, districts, and communities. Its tactics are data-driven, researched, and based on experience and contemporary practices.
The benefits of SRP become quickly apparent. By standardizing the vocabulary, all stakeholders can understand the response and status of the event. For students, this provides continuity of expectations and actions throughout their educational career. For teachers, this becomes a simpler process to train and drill. For communities, it leverages the growing adoption of the protocols from residents of all ages. For first responders, the common vocabulary and protocols establish a greater predictability that persists through the duration of an incident. People easily understand the practices and can reinforce the protocol. Additionally, this protocol enables rapid response determination when an unforeseen event occurs.
SRP is Action Based:
The Standard Response Protocol (SRP) is based on the response to any given situation not on individual scenarios. Like the Incident Command System (ICS), SRP demands a specific vocabulary but also allows for great flexibility. The premise is simple - these five specific actions that can be performed during an incident. When communicating these, the action is labeled with a "Term of Art" and is then followed by a "Directive."
- Hold is followed by the Directive: "In Your Room or Area" and is the protocol used when hallways need to kept clear of occupants
- Secure is followed by the Directive: "Get Inside. Lock Outside Doors" and is the protocol used to safeguard people within the building
- Lockdown is followed by "Locks, Lights, Out of Sight" and is the protocol used to secure individual rooms and keep occupants quiet and in place
- Evacuate may be followed by a location, and is used to move people from one location to a different location in or out of the building
- Shelter is used for hazards like a tornado, hazmat, or other natural disaster, and would be followed by additional instructions on how to protect from the hazard in play
Download the parent handout in English, Spanish, or Portugese
For those interested in exploring, you can find more information about the Standard Response Protocol HERE.