Camas High School (CHS) and the Camas School District (CSD) have switched from inconsistent safety and security practices regarding lockdowns to a new, organized Standard Response Protocol, or SRP.

The SRP uses five different types of alarms to warn the entire school of different emergency events that require immediate attention: fire evacuation, hold (where students stay inside their classrooms but otherwise continue normal learning), lockdown (where students stay inside their classrooms and stay quiet and hidden to avoid a potential threat), secure (a “lock-out”, where the building is secured from any potential threats outside the building, and shelter (where students shelter in place to avoid the effects of natural disasters or a gas leak). 

“We’re shifting from inconsistent practices throughout the region – what’s nice is you can go from Liberty [Middle School] or Sky[ridge Middle School] or anywhere [in the region] to here and have the protocol be the same,” CHS Safety Director and school administrator Owen Sanford said. 

The SRP is now being used in the Camas School District and across all of Clark County, ensuring cohesive safety protocols and efficiency between different schools and educational facilities. 

“Now first responders are familiar with the language and what the protocol is,” Sanford said.

During a recent fire drill where the SRP was used to test the fire evacuation alarm, some technical difficulties ensued. The alarm continued to sound after the drill was scheduled to be over, and for some classrooms continued sounding off for up to half an hour after students had returned to class.

“So what happened in the evacuation is that the codes we used to enter into our phones had changed, because we were limited before and didn’t have a fire evacuation all clear [the message given to students and staff that class may now return to normal]…we hadn’t updated the information we needed to enter into the system,” Sanford said.

The Camas Tech Department and members of the CSD Tech Department collaborated to solve the issue, and in a future event, the alarms should behave as intended. There is no connection between this incident and last year’s false lockdown alarm, which was accidentally triggered by technicians working on the alarm systems. 

Students have expressed a number of opinions about the switch, though most aren’t aware of it.

“I think that a safer school is a better school,” CHS senior Connor Yee said, reflecting a common sentiment amongst students and especially parents. The new SRP promises to increase safety for students across the entire region.

Many students, however, aren’t consciously aware of their safety throughout the day. 

“To be honest, going through the day I have never little conceptions of my safety,” CHS senior Isabella Ricci said.

To many, the SRP won’t have any noticeable effects, but in the event of an emergency, it could save lives.