Safety and Security
Every month during each school year, we practice a variety of emergency drills. These include fire drills, tornado drills, lockdown drills, lockout drills, and every three years, an evacuation drill. These drills enable staff and students to be prepared in the case of an actual emergency. If at any time it becomes necessary for us to evacuate the building, all students and staff will walk down to the Ridgewood Hills pool where students will be accounted for, and reunited with their parents. If for any reason we are unable to use the pool as our evacuation site we will evacuate to Little People’s Learning Center on the corner of Avondale and Trilby. If both the pool and Little People’s Learning Center are unavailable, we will evacuate to the greenbelt at Triangle and Woodrow. Kids will be sorted by letters of the alphabet and parents will check students out. During an alternate site evacuation, paperwork will need to be filled out by parents/guardians/approved alternate adults.
Please feel free to call our office if you have questions about our emergency procedures. We will be happy to answer your questions. Student safety continues to be our top concern.
"I Love You Guys" Foundation - Standard Response Protocol
The “I Love U Guys” Foundation’s crisis response programs and post-crisis reunification are used in more than 30,000 schools, districts, departments, agencies, organizations, and communities worldwide. They are created through the research-based best practices of school administrators, psychologists, public space safety experts, families, and first responders. We’re a powerful conduit uniting this work.
For more information, please visit the I Love You Guys Foundation Website
Standard Response Protocol
•Hold, Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate, Shelter
•Easy to understand, easy to implement, action-based
•Developed hand-in-hand with school administrators, psychologists, public space safety experts, families, and first responders, the programs are both research and experience-based.
Whats New 2021/2022
(no updates for 22/23 school year)
• Addition of “Hold” protocol
•“Lockout” has been changed to “Secure”
•”Lockout” is too similar to “Lock Down”
• Avoids panic and confusion
•”Secure” is used for situations happening outside of school in the surrounding community
eg. law enforcement activity in the area, bear in the area, etc.
Standard Response Protocol Explained
•Hold in your room or area
•Secure get inside, lock outside doors
•Lockdown Locks, lights, Out of sight
•Evacuate to a location
•Shelter for hazards, using safety strategy
eg. tornado, wildfire, flood.
Real World Lock Down Drills
•Happen periodically throughout the year
•Work in conjunction with local law enforcement
•Educate and empower students to create a muscle memory of
what to do to keep themselves safe in case of crisi
The Standard Response Protocol was developed by the "I Love U Guys" Foundation, headed by John-Michael Keyes and his wife Ellen-Stoddard Keyes, as a result of the tragic and unfortunate death of their daughter Emily Keyes on September 27th, 2006 at Platte Canyon High School. On that day, a gunman entered the high school, held seven girls hostage, and ultimately shot and killed Emily Keyes. During the time she was held hostage, she sent her parents text messages..."I Love You Guys" and "I Love U Guys, K?" The "I Love U Guys" Foundation was created to restore and protect the joy of youth through educational programs and positive actions in collaboration with families, schools, communities, organizations, and government agencies.