Englewood is putting a program called SRP into effect soon. Here’s what you need to know about it.

According to the “I love you, guys” website, a critical ingredient in the safe school recipe is the uniform classroom response to any incident. Weather events, fires, accidents, intruders and other threats to student safety are scenarios that are planned and trained for by the students, school, district administration and staff.

Historically, schools have taken this scenario-based approach to responding to hazards and threats.

SRP IS ACTION BASED

Lockout is followed by the Directive: “Secure the Perimeter” and is the protocol used to safeguard students and staff within the building.

Lockdown is followed by “Locks, Lights, Out of Sight” and is the protocol used to secure individual rooms and keep students quiet and in place.

Evacuate is always followed by a location and is used to move students and staff from one location to a different location in or out of the building.

Shelter is always followed by a type and a method and is the protocol for group and self-protection.

BENEFITS
By standardizing the vocabulary, everyone can understand the response and status of the event.

In this building, do you know where to go if there is an emergency (break-ins, fire, tornadoes, etc)? We spoke to our own Officer Watts. He says some safe places in the school now, are every classroom, in the hallways, but the safest place is in a closet in some classrooms. The classrooms keep us safe because when the door is locked it is harder for the intruder to open the door. The rooms with closets keep the people safer since the attacker has to go through two separate doors to get to them, but by the time they even get the main door, the cops would already have taken him/her down.

A few things that could make these places unsafe are when the attacker has breached the door or the attacker is already in the room with you. If the attacker is in the room, at any point, you need to look around the room for protection. This means you need to find something to protect yourself with. The rules to follow with any attacker is run and hide, but if the attacker is coming at you then you should fight back. “NEVER start off fighting before you run and hide,’ says Officer Watts.