Before We Begin

Inform and train staff about emergency response protocols. Encourage educators to discuss emergency procedures with parents (and those standing in parental relation) as part of IEP meetings or other reviews.

Preparedness focuses on what steps need to be taken to facilitate a rapid, coordinated, effective response when an emergency occurs to keep students safe. Partnering with first responders in preparedness strategies is essential and facilitates the safe integration of students with disabilities into emergency procedures.

TEA has established guidelines to ensure the safety and security of students and staff with disabilities or impairments. Per Texas Education Code 37.1086(b), districts must follow these Guidelines for Multihazard Emergency Operations.

Introduction

The K-12 Standard Response Protocol (SRP) Toolkit offers guidance and resources for incorporating the Standard Response Protocol into a school safety plan, for critical incident response within individual schools in a school district.

“SRP is not a replacement... It's an enhancement to your existing safety plans”

The intent of this toolkit is to provide basic guidance with respect for local conditions and authorities. The only mandate presented is that districts, agencies and departments retain the "Terms of Art" and "Directives" defined by this protocol.

SRP is not a replacement for any school safety plan or program. It is simply a classroom response enhancement for critical incidents, designed to provide consistent, clear, shared language and actions among all students, staff and first responders.

As a standard, SRP is being adopted by emergency managers, law enforcement, school and district administrators and emergency medical services across the country. Hundreds of agencies have evaluated the SRP and recommended the SRP to thousands of schools across the US and Canada.

New SRP materials and updates can also be found online here.

Texas Edition

The SRP Toolkit "Texas Edition" was created in conjunction with The “I Love U Guys” Foundation with the intent of incorporating Texas specific guidance and mandates into these processes and materials. This SRP 2021 edition incorporates the former 2017 SRP-X addition of “Hold” and the Action “Lockout” is being changed to “Secure”. For the purpose of consistency, you will see those words used together in this version. Texas has mandated drills that school districts and open-enrollment charter schools must follow. They are:

Drill Requirements

Secure Drill: 1 per school year

Lockdown Drill: 2 per school year (one per semester).

Evacuation Drill: 1 per school year

Shelter-in-Place for Hazmat Drill: 1 per school year

Shelter for Severe Weather Drill: 1 per school year

Fire Evacuation Drill: School districts and open-enrollment charter schools should consult with their local fire marshal and comply with their local fire marshal’s requirements and recommendations. If a district does not have a local fire marshal, it shall conduct four per school year (two per semester).

Please note that “Hold” is not a mandated drill per Texas Education Code 37.114 and the Texas Education Agency Commissioner’s rules. However, “Hold” is considered an “I Love U Guys” best practice drill.

Before You Begin

Texas school districts, open-enrollment charter schools, and junior college districts are required by Texas Education Code 37.108 to have a multi-hazard emergency operations plan. School districts and open-enrollment charter schools are also required to have a safety and security committee. The safety and security committee should evaluate if drills are incorporated into the EOP and are conducted at every facility. The committee should also evaluate if substitutes are trained in drills and emergency situations and are taking place throughout the year as substitutes are hired.

Texas law requires that the multi-hazard emergency operation plan provide for measures to ensure coordination with the Texas Department of State Health Services and local emergency management agencies, law enforcement, health departments, and fire departments. This coordination can help ensure safety plans will not conflict with existing local emergency services protocols.

A Critical Look

Be prepared to look at existing plans with a critical eye as often they can be described as a "Directive" of a certain "Term of Art", i. e., conducting a fire drill is practicing a specific type of evacuation and the actions performed are similar in all evacuation scenarios. It makes sense to teach and train broader evacuation techniques while testing or practicing a more specific directive, like evacuating to the parking lot due to a fire.

Time Barriers

Time barriers or actions taken beforehand to ‘harden the structure’ can be an invaluable asset to safety; not only of staff and students, but also visitors to a campus who expect a friendly and secure environment.

“Time barriers or measures taken beforehand to 'harden the structure' can be an invaluable asset to safety”

Time Barriers are best described as a physical barrier that slows down the entry into or movement through a facility. This delay may allow trained persons to take further protective action and gives first responders more time to arrive.

A simple example of a time barrier would be making the exterior doors of a building automatically lock and could include installing a film on glass door panels to prevent them from shattering, delaying an intruder’s attempt to break into the premises. Finally, the most powerful time barrier in an active assailant event is a locked classroom door. The Sandy Hook Advisory Commission Report, issued on March 6, 2015, states: The testimony and other evidence presented to the Commission reveals that there has never been an event in which an active shooter breached a locked classroom door.*

Foundation investigation into past school shootings reveals only two cases where a person behind a locked classroom door has been physically harmed. In the Red Lake, Minnesota incident, the gunman gained entry to the classroom by means of the side window by the classroom door. In the Platte Canyon, Colorado incident, the gunman was already in the room with hostages when law enforcement explosively breached the classroom door.

*FINAL REPORT OF THE SANDY HOOK ADVISORY COMMISSION Presented to Governor Dannel P. Malloy State of Connecticut - March 6, 2015

SRP Guide for K-12

This Toolkit was created based on the Standard Response Protocol K12 Guide created by The "I Love U Guys" Foundation. If you would like to download, view, or print this guide in full please click the button below.

Some materials are made available, at no cost, per Memorandum of Understanding with The “I Love U Guys” Foundation and may be subject to "Terms of Use” included in materials.

Some materials are made available, at no cost, per Memorandum of Understanding with The “I Love U Guys” Foundation and may be subject to "Terms of Use” included in materials.