School Safety Responses

Standard Response Protocol

In an emergency, safeguarding students and staff is the highest priority. The district has adopted the standard response protocol developed by the I Love U Guys Foundation.

Responses, corresponding to the threat, are Hold, Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate, and Shelter. Each protocol has specific staff and student actions that are unique to the action (Admin Regulation EBCB-AR 4).

The Albany Police Department (APD) has been a Greater Albany Public Schools (GAPS) community partner for many years. In 2019, GAPS entered into an Intergovernmental Agreement with APD to bring back the School Resource Officer (SRO) program to the district. Click here to learn more about the SRO program.

Hold

Students and teachers are to remain in their classroom or area, even if there is a scheduled class change until the all-clear is announced. Students and staff in common areas, like a cafeteria or a gym, may be asked to remain in those areas or move to adjoining areas like a locker room. Students and staff outside of the building should remain outside unless the administration directs otherwise. It is suggested that prior to closing the classroom door, teachers should sweep the hallway for nearby students. Additionally, teachers should take attendance, note the time, and conduct classroom activities as usual. In a high school with an open campus policy, communicate as much detail as possible to students who are temporarily off-campus.

Secure

The Secure Action demands bringing people into a secure building and locking all outside access points. Where possible, classroom activities would continue uninterrupted. Classes being held outside would return to the building and, if possible, continue inside the building. There may be occasions when students expect to be able to leave the building – end of classes, job commitment, etc. Depending on the condition, this may have to be delayed until the area is safe. During the training period, it should be emphasized to students as well as their parents that they may be inconvenienced by these directives, but their cooperation is important to ensure their safety

Lockdown

The Lockdown Action demands locking individual classroom doors, offices and other securable areas, moving occupants out of the line of sight of corridor windows, turning off lights to make the room seem unoccupied, and having occupants maintain silence.

There is no call to action to lock the building’s exterior access points. Rather, the protocol advises leaving the perimeter as is. The reasoning is simple – sending staff to lock outside doors exposes them to unnecessary risk and inhibits first responders’ entry into the building. If the exterior doors are already locked, leave them locked but do have a conversation with your local responders so they understand and can gain access during a Lockdown. The best option is to have the ability to lock and unlock doors remotely.

Training reinforces the practice of not opening the classroom door once in Lockdown. No indication of occupancy should be revealed until first responders open the door.

If the location of the threat is apparent and people do not have the option to get behind a door, it is appropriate to self-evacuate away from the threat.