OSWEGO COUNTY – Students, teachers and staff in Oswego County school districts will be learning what to do if their school becomes unsafe through some special training beginning later this year.
In a special meeting Oct. 17, the Oswego County Legislature approved entering into an agreement with the Research Foundation for the State University of New York for training in the Standard Response Protocol program. The program involves training of School Resource Officers (SROs) from the county sheriff’s office by a local expert in the safety field and these SROs then will go into their schools to train teachers, staff and students.
The agreement will cost no more than $12,000.
“This training is so if there is a crisis, everyone understands what they are supposed to do,” said Legislator Terry Wilbur, R-Hannibal, chair of the legislature’s Public Safety Committee. He said the training will ensure everyone in a school reacts the same way and knows exactly what to do in the event of a safety issue (such as a school shooter).
In addition, with all six school districts receiving the same training, it also means all school personnel will react and perform the same way in the event of a school mishap or event.
“When the first responders show up, everybody will be on the same page,” Wilbur said. He added that with all districts receiving the same training, first responders will know that no matter which school or district they go to, everyone should be reacting the same during the crisis.
Training will be provided to the SROs by Jaclyn Schildkraut, associate professor in SUNY Oswego’s Department of Criminal Justice and a national expert on school shootings and school safety. She also will provide some of her SUNY Oswego undergraduate students with the opportunity to assist the project for academic learning purposes.
The Standard Response Protocol training is part of the state Education Department’s emergency response program.
“The Standard Response Protocol is an emergency preparedness plan that will help keep students, faculty and staff member safe in schools by standardizing the language that is used,” said Schildkraut. “In any type of emergency situation, it is very important that people be able to communicate to stay safe, and SRP helps them to do that.”
She said the language used is consistent with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and National Incident Management System, so school staff also can communicate easily with first responders.
“The training is important because it helps to educate all parties about what is expected across a number of different scenarios (lockout, lockdown, evacuate, shelter, and hold) and helps to build muscle memory so that they would know how to respond during an emergency,” Schildkraut said.
The Standard Response Protocol is a program of the I Love U Guys Foundation, started in Colorado in 2006. The foundation, started by Ellen and John-Michael Keyes following a school shooting that took the life of their daughter, Emily, is committed to school and community safety, and family reunification following a crisis. Its programs have been implemented by more than 25,000 schools, agencies and organizations across the United States and Canada, according to its website.
The Standard Response Protocol is based not on individual scenarios but on the response to any given situation. The Standard Response Protocol is based on four actions: Lockout, Lockdown, Evacuate and Shelter.
“The training provides them with knowledge on how to respond when, God forbid, a shooter is in the school,” Wilbur said.
Wilbur said while some people might think this training is going a tad too far and could actually scare younger children, he said people should remember that at one time, fire drills in schools were new things too. The Syracuse City School District has been using the program for a year now and reports state children are feeling less anxious now that they and their teachers know what to do if there is a crisis.