Building Security Levels Quick Reference Sheet Security Level 1 Mass Traffic Security Level 2 Normal Operations Security Level 3 Secured Building Security Level 4 High Security Security Level 5 Lockdown Circumstances Changes to Normal Ops Security Focus Exterior Doors Interior Doors Students Staff Members Visitors Movement Large numbers of people entering or exiting building Business as Usual No known threats Possible threat identified to building, personnel, or area Imminent danger to building or personnel N/A None No outside activities Minimized to those activities which may be safely conducted Crowd control and containment Doors not related to activity are locked Unlocked doors monitored by staff if possible Unmonitored areas locked Control access to unused parts of school Crowd control General safety Locked unless monitored Exterior access control Locked and under staff control Access and movement control Locked Administrator or designee must approve entrance Life-threatening situation in progress cease Crisis response All locked Vacant rooms locked Vacant rooms locked Locked Locked Directed to sign in with office Identification recommended Developed by JCPS Security and Investigations Unit for JCPS Disaster Response Team Directly monitored at all times Movement minimized Supervise students Watch for unattended visitors Escorted to office to sign in and present photo ID Must wear identification Hallway traffic minimized and monitored All in supervised rooms Supervise students Actively monitor hallways Must present photo ID to enter building Escorted at all times Must wear identification In hallway only if necessary Brought immediately into shelter locations Bring unattended students into secure locations No entry or exit Non-involved visitors brought to secure locations Movement unrelated to response ceases All personnel shelter in place. Security Level 5: Lockdown Circumstances Life threatening situation inside or outside building. All normal operations cease immediately. All personnel remain in their secure location until the all-clear is given. Lock-down is initiated by the building principal/manager or the designated representative. Security is now the only priority. Everyone is in their hiding and lockdown locations. No one moves inside the hallways once all students are secured until police are in control. Lockdown is ended only when the police or security advises it's safe. 10
Security Level 5: Lockdown Continued Guidelines 1. Immediately notify all personnel to go to lockdown status. 2. Teachers/staff should check the hallway immediately outside their room and bring uninvolved nonthreatening students into their classroom or office. 3. Close and lock all doors external and internal. 4. Once external doors are locked all staff and students outside the building should go directly to the school's designated alternate site/location. 5. Turn off lights in classrooms and offices. 6. Move personnel away from and out of view of windows and doors. 7. All personnel not directly involved in crisis response will maintain a sterile environment no sound and no movement visible to the windows and doors. 8. The person in charge of each room will obtain the lock-down folder and place the following placards in the exterior window and in the door window (or under the door and into the hall if there is no window in the door): a. If there are no injuries and the room is secured, the green placards will be used. With the black marker, indicate the number of room occupants in parenthesis next to the room number, such as 105 (20) to indicate 20 people in room 105. b. If there are injuries and immediate medical help is needed, then the red placards will be used. With the black marker, indicate the number of room occupants and the number of people needing medical attention in parenthesis next to the room number, such as 105 (20 2) to indicate 20 people in room 105, with two needing medical attention. (2) Go to the nearest lockable room and don't try to return to classrooms and offices that are distant. Large rooms like gyms and cafeterias should be evacuated to smaller rooms that can be secured (5) In turning off lights keep in mind the goal is make the room dark enough to pr the intruder from looking into the room to see occupants. Therefore, it may be necessary to also lower the shades to darken the room further. However, if the door doesn't have a glass window then turning out the lights isn't necessary. (7) The main office should assign someone to monitor the primary phone line. The assigned employee can do this from under a desk. 11
Quick Reference Sheet The Quick Reference Sheet or table provides a readily available checklist for implementing the building security levels. It is designed to be placed next to a telephone for use during emergencies. Building Security Levels Quick Reference Sheet Security Level 1 Mass Traffic Security Level 2 Normal Operations Security Level 3 Secured Building Security Level 4 High Security Security Level 5 Lockdown Circumstances Changes to Normal Ops Security Focus Exterior Doors Interior Doors Students Staff Members Visitors Movement Large numbers of people entering or exiting building Business as Usual No known threats Possible threat identified to building, personnel, or area Imminent danger to building or personnel N/A None No outside activities Minimized to those activities which may be safely conducted Crowd control and containment Doors not related to activity are locked Unlocked doors monitored by staff if possible Unmonitored areas locked Control access to unused parts of school Crowd control General safety Locked unless monitored Exterior access control Locked and under staff control Access and movement control Locked Administrator or designee must approve entrance Life-threatening situation in progress cease Crisis response All locked Vacant rooms locked Vacant rooms locked Locked Locked Directed to sign in with office Identification recommended Developed by JCPS Security and Investigations Unit for JCPS Disaster Response Team Directly monitored at all times Movement minimized Supervise students Watch for unattended visitors Escorted to office to sign in and present photo ID Must wear identification Hallway traffic minimized and monitored All in supervised rooms Supervise students Actively monitor hallways Must present photo ID to enter building Escorted at all times Must wear identification In hallway only if necessary Brought immediately into shelter locations Bring unattended students into secure locations No entry or exit Non-involved visitors brought to secure locations Movement unrelated to response ceases All personnel shelter in place. 5
Lockdown Drills Procedures State law requires schools to conduct one lockdown drill during the school year. However, principals are encouraged to conduct additional lockdown drills during periods of increased threats. To avoid confusion about real lockdowns and drills, it is important that the JCPS radio room is called prior to and after the drill. Principal/Designee will: 1. Notify your District Security or the local police that the building is conducting a "Lockdown Drill." The caller will give the radio operator their name and school name. 2. Announce over the PA system: "This is a drill; this is only a drill Lockdown, lockdown, Lockdown. This is only a drill." 3. At the conclusion of the drill the administrator will announce over the PA: This concludes the drill, all classes and operations are to return to normal." 4. Call your District Security or local police to notify the operator that "the drill at 'name of school' is complete." It is critical that your District Security or local police are called before a lockdown drill so that if any outsiders (parents, neighbors, Board employees) call the local police, they will be advised that it's only a drill. The public address system announcement is designed to pr confusion and unnecessary fear that the school is being placed on lock-down. Listed below are standardized points that will reduce the chance of a drill being mistaken for an actual lockdown and vice versa: Standardize phrase, "This is a drill; this is only a drill Lockdown, lockdown, Lockdown. This is only a drill." The term "drill" is used before and after the term "lockdown." "Drill" should be repeated a minimum of three times. This is important to avoid confusing someone who walks into the building in the middle of the announcement and only hears "lockdown." When executing an actual lockdown, never use the term "drill" in the announcement statement (i.e. "this is not a drill"). Announce when the drill is completed so that if an occurs later that requires an actual lockdown there won't be confusion about whether it's a drill or the "real-thing." 12
School Security Levels Jefferson County Public Schools established building security levels to protect the occupants of the school against intruders who may commit acts of crime and violence. Security levels are intended to provide (building managers) with a flexible and proactive approach for responding to both known and possible threats. A principal makes a decision for what security level his building should be at based on available information. Flexibility is obtained from the five levels of recommended procedures and the use of guidelines instead of black and white rules. These procedures are the best practices from around the nation based on what we currently know about attacks and threats against schools. It is not possible to write standard operating procedures that will cover every situation or possible. Human behavior is variable and unpredictable. We can only plan and prepare for what will occur most of the time. Stanford T. Mullen, Jr. Director Security & Investigations Unit Jefferson County Public Schools
Building Security Levels and Lockdown Building security levels are established to protect the building and all occupants against intruders, crime and violence based on both known and unknown threats and risks. Each of the five security levels has recommended procedures for maintaining the safety of all personnel in a building. Building Security Levels are intended to provide building managers with flexible and proactive best practices guidelines for increasing the security of their building based on all available information. Furthermore, the intent is to have standardized procedures across the District so that any employee has an understanding of what is expected regardless of what building they may find themselves. The flexibility is obtained from five levels of recommended procedures and the use of guidelines instead of black and white rules. The following explanations or S are designed to help administrators in decision making and implementation. The following procedures are the minimum recommended standards. Building managers are free to modify these procedures to raise the standards and enhance security (i.e. having everyone sign in when at Security Level 1, or having everyone wear their ID cards and passes in Security Level 2). Definitions For the purposes of this policy, the term building manager refers to the person with administrative responsibility for a building. In the case of a school, the building manager is the Principal. If the normal building manager is unable to carry out that role, the next-in-line will assume the duties of building manager. The building manager will determine the security level for his/her building. The term personnel refer to any occupant of a building performing duties related to that building. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, JCPS employees assigned to that location at that time, volunteers doing work for the school, and students at a school. refer to the regular tasks and duties of building personnel. The term building security level or security level refers to any one of five designated levels of security. It is recommended that all parts of a building be at the same security level at any given time, as well as all buildings at a multi-building property, especially if those buildings are interdependent. If buildings on a property have different building managers, those building managers should opt to place all buildings at the highest security level in effect on that property. Lockdown refers to the highest security level (Security Level 5). When this security level is in effect, all normal operations cease and all personnel will go to a safe place, lock all doors, and turn out the lights. Everyone is familiar with the national Homeland Security five levels of security and this builds on that knowledge base. Only the building manager or their designated representative at the site has enough information to make the best possible decision about what levels of security are needed. The Director of Security or Radio Room may make a recommendation but only the building manager has the best opportunity to know and consider all factors that will affect establishing a given security level. The term "lockdown" refers to Security Level 5 only and can be used interchangeably. When reporting going to Security Level 5, "lock-down" can be used. 3
Procedures An emergency signal or code word may be used to identify when a building will change security levels. However, it is highly recommended that building managers use "plain text" notifications. Signals and code words may confuse people who are not familiar with building policies, such as substitutes and visitors. It is recommended that the term "lockdown" is used to order the building to a lockdown status, instead of its "Security Level 5" designation, in order to facilitate efficient implementation of those procedures. For other security levels, use the security level designation (e.g., "Security Level 3") for notification to change to that security level. Building managers may use code words, but we recommend against it because they tend to cause confusion unless the manager can insure that all employees know the code: new employees and substitutes. Building managers who choose to use a code word for a "lockdown" should develop a procedure to disseminate the word to all staff members including substitutes. Our vision is that when schools report they are on "lockdown" the Radio Room will send all available security and police to the school. The police will most likely use emergency equipment (lights and sirens) to get there faster. Therefore it is important that we actually have a Security Level 5 situation when reporting a lockdown. Furthermore, the term "lockdown" usually sends the news media into frenzy, and they will descend on the school. A building-wide announcement is not required for changing between Security Levels 1 and 2. Notify District Security or local police when the security level is raised above Level 2. At each security level, additional special procedures may be implemented by the building manager as needed. During planning and preparation, a lock-down folder should be constructed and kept readily available in each classroom or office. This folder should consist of the following: o Two (2) green 8 x 11 placards. o Two (2) red 8 x 11 placards. o One (1) black flip-chart marker. The room number should be clearly printed in large letters with a black marker in order to facilitate easy reading of the room number at a distance. The purpose of the lockdown folder is to provide each room with the placards and marker needed during a lockdown. These placards serve the function of helping emergency responders (security, police, and EMS) prioritize which rooms need to be searched first, which rooms need to be evacuated first because of injured occupants, and how large a rescue team is needed to evacuate a room based on the number of occupants. Without these placards, the SWAT team will start at their entry point (the door they decided to enter) to search and evacuate one room at a time until they find the injured. Any room without a placard will be treated as high risk with a suspect possibly holding hostages until it is verified otherwise. It may be stormed or by-passed. 4
Jefferson County Public Schools Security & Investigations Unit K-12 Students 97,000 Employees 14,000 Visitors daily avg. est. 25,000 Total daily population 136,000 JCPS Annual Budget $1,000,000,000 JCPS Operates 150 schools JCPS Operates 15 bus compounds JCPS Owns 900 school buses JCPS Transports 60,000 student daily JCPS Operates the 19 th largest transportation system in the country Security Direct Support to Schools School staff In-School Security Monitors 116 @ 52 schools/education buildings School Resource Officers 22 @ 22 schools Security Unit Work Force Director Assistant Director In-School Coordinator 4 Investigators 4 Security Officers 10 Security Monitors 21 Sworn Personnel 7 Civilian Employees All sworn personnel are DOCJT trained and POPS Certified Contract K-9 Unit 2