The district's first priority in an emergency situation is always the safety and security of students and staff, and parents will be alerted as soon as possible. Georgetown ISD has a number of communication tools that are used to notify parents in case of an emergency. They range from texts to automated phone calls to emails or news alerts, and different tools are used depending on the situation. One of the most important things parents can do is to make sure their child's school has the most current contact information including cell phone, emergency contacts, home phone and home address. You can review and update contact information by logging into Skyward.

Each of our schools conducts a number of different drills several times a year so students and staff have an opportunity to practice what they need to do in different kinds of emergency situations. The exercises range from lockdown drills to fire drills.  Georgetown ISD uses the Standard Response Protocol or SRP, which you can view at http://iloveuguys.org

Drills are held in cooperation with the Georgetown Police Department.  They take part in these drills to ensure they are very familiar with our buildings, our staff, and our procedures.
After the drills, district staff and law enforcement officials conduct a debrief to ensure proper procedures and protocols were followed and to identify ways to improve.

Recently, SRP changed the wording from Lockout to Secure.  While the elements of these drills are nearly identical, you will notice that signage and wording in our correspondence have been altered to reflect this change.  

The differentiation between Secure (formerly known as Lockout) and Lockdown is a critical element in SRP.

A Secure (Lockout) recovers all students from outside the building, secures the building perimeter and locks all outside doors. This would be implemented when there is a threat or hazard outside of the building. Criminal activity, dangerous events in the community, or even a vicious dog on the playground would be examples of a Secure (Lockout) response. While the Secure (Lockout) response encourages greater staff situational awareness, it allows for educational practices to continue with little classroom interruption or distraction.

A Lockdown is a classroom-based protocol that requires locking the classroom door, turning off the lights and placing students out of sight of any corridor windows. In classrooms with high volumes of glass, students and staff are taught to evacuate away from the threat. Student action for students who remain in traditional classrooms during Lockdown is to remain quiet.

Yes, absolutely. The SRP is designed as an enhancement to any safety plan. It covers critical incidents by standardizing vocabulary so stakeholders can easily understand the status and respond quickly when an unforeseen event occurs. It works well with ADD, a safety program being implemented in our schools with assistance from the Georgetown Police Department.

Avoid | Deny | Defend™  has been developed as an easy to remember method for individuals to follow and works in tandem with our Standard Response Protocol.  

Since 2002, the  Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT)™ Program at Texas State University has been used to train law enforcement officers across the nation in how to rapidly respond to dangerous active threat situations.  This has resulted in shortened response times. Georgetown Police Department is working now to do ADD training on our campuses to improve safety response measures for all.

• Each school conducts all required safety drills, including more than the required number of lockdown drills so students and staff can practice what they need to do in different emergency situations. School Resource Officers are highly involved in the completion and after-action review of these drills.

• Anyone visiting a school, including parents and volunteers, is required to check in at the office, scan their license, and receive a visitor badge.

• Georgetown ISD staff have been trained to recognize the warning signs and protective factors for students who are at risk to harm to self or others.  School counselors and school-based therapists are prepared to intervene and support the mental health needs of students and families.

• The district has implemented keyless entry access in schools, which makes it easier to secure school buildings.

• The district's past three bond cycles included projects to improve safety and security including secured entrances for campuses, a radio system, alert apps, and a secured walkway between GHS and the annex/Richarte. Learn more about GISD’s bond projects at www.georgetownisd.org/bond.

• The Stay Safe! Anonymous Online Reporting System allows students or parents to anonymously report incidents that may endanger individuals or the school. www.georgetownisd.org/staysafe.

All of our elementary and middle schools are outfitted with secure entrance-ways that require visitors to enter a school through one main entry point, sign in and get permission to access the rest of the campus.

Still have questions? Submit it to us through Let's Talk, an online dialogue tool, and we'll respond.