School Safety
Lancaster ISD is dedicated to providing a safe and secure learning environment for all students on a daily basis. We take every opportunity to learn from events and operate daily with a level of vigilance as we work to maintain a safe and secure environment for our students and staff.
The following are some of our current procedures and safety protocols in place. We will continue to provide an environment that is as safe and secure as possible:
Every campus has a security vestibule that limits access to the building.
Every campus is equipped with multiple security cameras.
Every campus has a crisis management team, which works closely with the District safety and security team to ensure that effective safety measures are in place.
Every campus conducts emergency drills to practice responses to a variety of scenarios including fire, lockdown, evacuations, and shelter-in-place.
Lancaster ISD has a visitor registry plan that requires all visitors to check-in and shows identification at the front desk prior to having access to the building. All employees and secondary students are required to wear identification badges while on district property.
Our district has a Police Department that monitors each campus and quickly responds to emergencies.
Standard Response Protocol (SRP)
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, emergency managers, law enforcement, school and district administrators and emergency medical services are adopting SRP across the country. Hundreds of agencies have evaluated the SRP and recommended the system.
The Standard Response Protocol is based not on individual scenarios but on the response to any given scenario. Like the Incident Command System (ICS), SRP demands a specific vocabulary but also allows for great flexibility. The premise is simple – there are four specific actions that can be performed during an incident. When communicating these actions, the action is labeled with a “Term of Art” and is then followed by a “Directive”. Execution of the action is performed by active participants, including students, staff, teachers and first responders.
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 the hazard and a safety strategy and is the protocol for group and self-protection.
These specific actions can act as both a verb and a noun. If the action is Lockdown, it would be announced on public address as “Lockdown! Locks, Lights, Out of Sight.” Communication to local Law Enforcement Agency would then be “We are under Lockdown.”
Each response has a specific student and staff action. The Evacuate response is always followed by a location: “Evacuate to the Bus Zone.” Responses can also be chained. For instance, “Evacuate to Hallway. Shelter for Tornado. Drop, Cover and Hold.”