School shootings have become something we know all to well in the United States. At Sandy Hook Elementary, Columbine High School, and Virginia Tech alone, 76 were killed and 46 were wounded. North Platte is trying to take steps to make sure that something like that does not happen here.
The school now operates under the Standard Response Protocol (SRP), a plan implented statewide by the board of education.
With this new protocol, students are encouraged to text or post updates to social media in order to keep parents informed of what is going on. Students will be trained in the SRP for the first time ever in the coming months. The process has two main focuses. There is lockdown, for immediate danger to the school and lockout, for a situation outside of the school that the administration does not want students exposed to.
This new training replaces the older and more complicated ALICE training. “ALICE consisted of lots of self-defense. There were lots of steps involving barricading. This is simpler,” said School Resource Officer J. Johnson.
In the event of a school evacuation for something like a bomb threat or a gas leak, students will be evacuated to the Baptist Church, while in the event of a police evacuation, such as after an active shooter incident, the students will be bussed to a predetermined location where they will be reunited with their parents.
Johnson says the SRP will hopeully make NPHS better prepared for all situations, and safer as a whole.