Emergency Preparedness & Protocols

To make sure our students and staff know what to do in an emergency, we practice safety drills throughout the year to help us respond quickly, calmly and safely to a number of situations. Stargate's School Safety Plan includes: 

Safety Drills

We design drills to teach confidence and allow students and staff to be "emergency prepared not emergency scared." The goal of our drills is to improve our ability to protect students, save lives and reduce injuries. These practice drills allow us to evaluate our emergency operation plans, improve our response skills and make students and staff aware of what to do in an emergency. Parents are typically notified after the drill with overview information.  Drills throughout the school year include:

• Fire drills - conducted each month

• LockDOWN drills, designed to familiarize students with how to respond to an active shooter in the school - conducted twice a year - one announced in the Fall and one unannounced in the Spring

• Weather related and tornado drills - conducted twice a year

• Hazardous material spill drills - conducted once a year

Read More: District Policy 3510, Emergency Response Plan 

Emergency Protocols

Stargate, like other Adams 12 Five Star Schools, utilizes the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) developed by the I Love U Guys Foundation in collaboration with the Adam's 12 School District and law enforcement. The SRP is based not on individual scenarios but on the response to any given situation. 

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 - 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 - students and staff are moved to a new or safe location due to a situation in or near the school building. Examples: gas leak in the school; unsafe situation near school affecting release times.

Shelter - students and staff are instructed to take safe shelter due to a situation in or near the school. Examples: tornado, earthquake or other natural events.

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.  In Secure,  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 school approval. However, the school day operates as normal, unless the Secure interferes with release times.  By contrast, during a LockDOWN, 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 school 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 Stargate to advise of their location.

Reunification & Emergency Communications 

As a result of any of the four Emergency Protocol 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. 

In addition to reunification communications, Stargate provides  notification in as timely a manner as possible when the school has enacted one of the four Emergency Protocols. The notification is typically provided via email communication and may include updates and next steps. 

Threat Assessments

Stargate's safety and security team works collaboratively with local authorities and uses emergency management best-practices to correctly develop and implement safety procedures, including threat assessments. As part of our school safety planning, Stargate has procedures in place to identify and manage concerning behaviors among the staff and students. 

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, per District Policy 5110 — Student Bullying, Harassment, Hazing, Intimidation and Threatening Behavior. 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 with any questions you may have.