Parent Resources for School Safety - Upper Perkiomen School District

Schools practice safety procedures throughout the school year, including fire, secure and lockDOWN drills, and are trained annually in how to respond in emergency situations.

Upper Perkiomen School District utilizes the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) developed by the I Love U Guys Foundation in collaboration with the Five Star District and law enforcement. The SRP is based not on individual scenarios but on the response to any given situation. The premise is simple - there are four actions that can be performed during an emergency situation:

Banner that reads: The different Standard Response Protocols

HOLD

Hold - this safety protocol can be initiated when the hallways need to be kept clear due to a situation inside or outside of the building. Students and staff are instructed to clear the halls and remain securely in a classroom or area until the situation is resolved. Behind Classroom doors, it's business as usual, although students may remain in the class longer than the dismissal bell. Examples: A medical emergency or safety situation in the hallway where emergency responders or law enforcement need to address the situation.

SECURE

Secure - building is put in secure based on activity in the surrounding area, not in the school or on school grounds. School staff move all students and activities inside and ensure the building is locked while learning continues inside the school with minimal classroom interruption or distractions. Examples: Law enforcement activity such as serving warrants in the neighborhood; report of dangerous wildlife.

LockDOWN

LockDOWN - building is put on lockDOWN due to perceived danger inside or very near the building. All students and staff are trained to get behind a locked door - Locks, Lights, Out of Sight. In the rare event that a student cannot get behind a locked door, they are trained in self-evacuation protocols. Examples: Threat inside the school; emergency or dangerous situation very near the building.

EVACUATE

SHELTER

What is the difference between Secure and LockDOWN?

While the names are very similar and are often confused, they differ greatly in their meanings, purpose and level of severity.

Secure

Secure the perimiter. Schools are put on secure to safeguard students and staff within the building based on activity in the surrounding area, not in the school or on school grounds. During secure, school staff move all students and activities inside and ensure the building is locked while learning continues inside the school with minimal classroom interruption or distractions. All doors are locked and no one can leave or enter the building without police or district approval. The school day operates as normal, unless the secure interferes with release times.

LockDOWN

Locks, Lights, Out of Sight. During a lockDOWN, all students and staff are trained to get behind a locked door - Locks, Lights, Out of Sight. The expectation is that classroom doors are locked and secured, lights are turned off, and students and staff move to a location away from hallway windows and doors. Students are encouraged to remain quiet. Students and staff are released by district or emergency personnel only.

In the rare event that a student cannot get behind a locked door, they are trained in self-evacuation protocols. If your child contacts you to let you know they have self-evacuated, please contact the district to advise of their location.

Reunification

As a result of any of the above four scenarios, students may need to be reunified with parents through a controlled release at the school or a reunification at a new location.

We want to reunite students with parents as soon as possible during an emergency situation. We will work with our police and fire agencies to determine when it is safe to reunite students and parents. These situations often take time and planning to ensure you and your child are reunited safely. To learn more about the process, please view the following reunification videos.

Current Prevention at UPSD

Staff Programs:

Student Programs:

Partnerships:

Creative Health
Malvern
Holcomb
UP Domestic Violence Task Force
Open Link
Perk UP
Mobile Crisis

Personnel:

4 Student Assistance Counselors
2 Behavior Specialists
LBSCs

Projects:

Vestibules/Secure Entrances
Window Film
Panic Button Installations
Cameras

Programs:

Raptor Visitor Management

Policies:

Threat Assessment
Security Personnel
AllHazards

Personnel:

Head of Safety and Security
Contracted School Security Guards

Current Response at UPSD

Programs/Procedures:

Training:

Framework for Safety and Security Efforts

Enhancements in the area of Safety and Security have been the focus of the administration for several years. Utilizing information from training, feedback from other districts in job-alike forums, and analyzing the district’s current safety and security resources, practices, and procedures has set the foundation for the recommendations of the district.

In July 2018, the Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) released Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model: An Operational Guide for Preventing Targeted School Violence, which outlined eight actionable steps for implementing a comprehensive targeted violence prevention plan in schools. This framework can be used for schools to identify, assess, and manage students who pose a risk of violence or other harmful behavior.

Each district effort, outlined on the upcoming pages are the districts efforts to address each of those actionable steps with this goal of enhancing school safety and security. These efforts have been split between PREVENTION and RESPONSE.

Considerations for 23-24 School Year

During the course of the year, the administrative team has made several recommendations for the upcoming school year. Those recommendations are listed below:

PREVENTION:

Dysregulated Youth Program (6-12)
Mobile Crisis Worker
Social Worker
Social Services Specialist
Metal/Weapons Detection
Vape Detection
Propped Door Alarms
Camera System Enhancement
Bollard Installation
Additional Window Film
Backpacks in lockers

RESPONSE:

Crisis GO (rollout to staff, students, families)
School Resource Officers (SROs) - the options and configurations of this recommendation is outlined below:

Foundational to the Recommendation for the Consideration of Armed Security Personnel

The district continues to review and recommend improvements (as noted at the bottom of each column) in the area of safety and security. As the team worked to address improvements in both categories, prevention and response, it continued to circle back to key findings shared in the government reports and through our administrative training. These were:

Finding: *US Secret Service Analysis of school shootings showed that of the attacks analyzed, 98% of casualties were staff and students.

District Consideration: What recommendation supports the preservation of life and minimizes student and staff casualties?

Finding: *US Secret Service Analysis of school shootings showed that of the attacks analyzed, 85% of incidents last 5 minutes or less.

District Consideration: Knowing the rapid nature of an incident, what recommendation supports the reservation of life (students, staff, and admin)?.

Finding: ALICE provides a framework for responding to an active shooter event. The options given to staff and students are: Counter or Evacuate.

District Consideration: Does the district believe that the options outlined in the ALICE framework maximize our goal of preserving human life?

Finding: UPSD is covered by several law enforcement agencies, sometimes complicating communication and response.

District Consideration: How can the district create an internal and cohesive team of security personnel to coordinate with the variety of outside police agencies to enhance response times with the goal of minimizing casualties?.

Research/Information Considered

Research/Information considered by the Safety and Security Administrative Team

PCCD Baseline Criteria Physical Security and Behavioral Health

United States Secret Service Averting Targeted School Violence (2021)

Protecting America’s Schools: A U.S Secret Service Analysis of School Attacks (2019)

The Center for Homeland Security School Shooting Safety Compendium

US Secret Service Threat Assessment Model (2018);

The Department of Justice Violence Prevention in Schools (2017)

US Secret Service and Department of Education’s Prior Knowledge of Potential School Based Violence (2008)

US Secret Service and Department of Education Safe School Imitative (2002)

Trainings attended by District Administrative Personnel

Averting Targeted School Violence (US Secret Service)
I Love U Guys (Standard Response Protocol/Standard Reunification Method) - Train the Trainer Workshop
Regional School Safety Conference
Averting Targeted Violence at Schools through Mental Health Supports & Building a Culture of Belonging
Lessons Learned from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting
ALICE Instructor Certification Training
PA Threat Assessment Training
American Heart Association - HeartSaver K-12 (First Aid, CPR, AED)
Utica National Act 44 of 2018 Training
Understanding and Planning for School Bombing Incidents
Critical Decision Making for Complex Coordinated Attacks

How to stay informed

During an emergency situation, we want you to receive the most accurate information and you can help by ensuring your information is updated. In order to receive safety messages during an emergency, the district will contact you through your information found in Skyward. Log in to your account or contact your child's school to ensure all information is correct and up-to-date.

Text Messages Alerts

Parents can opt-in to receive text message alerts sent by the district and schools. Opting in is a two-step process: 1) Make sure your cell phone number is listed in Skylert in the cell phone field. 2) Then text YES to 67587.

Automated Phone Call

Text Message

Email

Social Media

Stay Home – Parents are advised not to come to the school/scene. By arriving at the school/scene you may be endangering yourself or your child. School district personnel and First Responders will be working hard to control the situation and protect your children. Law Enforcement will be focused on the important task of keeping your child safe.

Stay informed – School district personnel will provide information as soon as possible. Some situations take time to verify accurate information. School district personnel will be in communication throughout the situation and will communicate in several different ways: Text message, email, district web site, or local news media. Please do not call the school as you most likely will not get an answer or you could be pulling staff away from the emergency situation.

Be ready – In case a reunification is necessary, you’ll be informed of when and where to pick up your child. Please bring a photo ID and be patient in the process of connecting you with your child. The process takes time and it’s important to stay calm. The reunification process protects both the safety of students and provides for an accountable exchange of custody from the school to a recognized parent or guardian.

Hold off on calling or texting your student - Parents will be notified with updates on the situation in a timely manner. When it’s safe to do so, students will be allowed to text their parent(s) during a crisis, if applicable. You should NOT call or text a student’s cell phone during a crisis unless you’ve heard from them first and you know it’s safe to text back. During certain situations, you may be placing your child at risk. Students are trained to stay out of site and quiet during a Lockdown. A phone ringing or vibrating could alert an intruder to the student’s location.

See something. Say something.

Safe2Say provides a safe and easy way to anonymously report information about anything that is a concern to school or community safety. We encourage families to contact Safe2Say if they have knowledge of anything that could compromise the safety of the UPSD community.

To report a safety concern please:

Web: www.safe2sayPA.org and select “submit a tip”
Call: 24/7 Safe2Say Crisis Hotline 1-844-SAF2SAY OR 1-844-723-2729
App: Download app from Apple / Android app store – search for “Safe2Say Something PA”

To learn more about Safe2Say, please check out the UPN Safe2Say Video

Threat Assessment Information

Threat Assessment Information

About the Process

Threat assessment is an objective, fact-finding process to determine whether there is an existing or posed threat to others. This process is initiated whenever perceived harm to others is reported to the school/district. It is focused on identifying behaviors of concern to determine any appropriate intervention strategies for the student. This process runs independently of any discipline, restorative, or criminal process.

There are two levels to this process: an initial screen and/or a full threat assessment.

An initial screen is used to determine whether a threat is posed. If the information demonstrates a severe or significant concern or impact and/or not enough information is known to make an accurate determination - a trained school threat assessment team may move to a full threat assessment.
A full threat assessment is used to delve deeper into the facts surrounding the alleged threat and the individual student’s background.

Every threat assessment will have a screen but not every screen will result in a full threat assessment. Threat assessments are used to guide practices for student intervention based on the individual and any concerns that may be presented.

If your student has been contacted as part of a threat assessment process, you are welcome to reach out to your student’s school threat assessment team with any questions you may have.

Upper Perkiomen School District

District

Academics

Departments

Parents

Community

School Board

HOLD

SECURE

LockDOWN

EVACUATE

SHELTER

What is the difference between Secure and LockDOWN?

Secure

LockDOWN

Reunification

Current Prevention at UPSD

Current Response at UPSD

Framework for Safety and Security Efforts

Considerations for 23-24 School Year

Research/Information Considered

Trainings attended by District Administrative Personnel

How to stay informed

Text Messages Alerts

Threat Assessment Information

About the Process