The administration is implementing a new school-wide crisis protocol this year. Introduced at a school meeting on Thursday, September 26, the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) streamlines the community response to possible threats on campus. It enables community members to take swift measures in the face of danger by directing students and adults on campus to one of five distinct actions: Hold, Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate, and Shelter. Each command responds to the severity and type of threat, whether it is an earthquake or an intruder. Informacast, a mass notification system that can override mute and do-not-disturb settings, will communicate essential information regarding the steps to take, making it more effective and reliable than text messaging.
Although SRP and Informacast are just now being adopted, the consideraion of this crisis protocol has been two years in the making, according to Chief Financial and Operating Officer Rochelle Hargraves. The emergency team, consisting of a diverse group of faculty and staff representatives from key departments at Mercersburg, had to screen the protocol before enacting it. Associate Head of School Jennifer Craig said, “Most of the work on this specific protocol has been done to test and train adults, utilizing some employee meetings, so that the adults can know what to do when we test and train students with the app.”
The faculty practiced in a series of tabletop exercises and scenarios, an iterative process that brought to attention a weakness within the preexisting crisis protocol: communication. Traditional text messaging, or SMS, is unsuitable for expedient mass notification. Informacast ensures that students, faculty, and staff immediately receive instructions on the actions they must take. A school-wide trial of the new system occurred on Friday, October 4, when the system notified community members of a gas leak in Ford Hall, quickly followed by another message declaring it a test. This proved the rapid efficiency of the messaging system in case of a true emergency.
Implementing this crisis protocol is only one step toward the larger goal of improving campus safety. Craig stated, “Developing incident readiness has been part of Mercersburg's practice for a long time. Administrative and Board-supported teams will scrutinize safety practices, a policy realignment like our weapons initiative, and new app development geared toward instantaneous reporting regarding safety has led us toward an audit of our emergency policies in general.” The protocol is still in the experimental phase, and the emergency team is actively seeking out questions, concerns, and ways to improve upon its implementation.
Following the presentation at the school meeting, there were mixed feelings among the student body. Avery Liu ‘25 said, “As a student, I definitely feel safer knowing that the teachers and staff are taking initiatives try and keep us safe. Also, the protocol seems easy to understand, and it’s a good way to have everyone on the same page.” However, Chloe Allis ‘25 admitted that the increased attention on potential safety threats, although necessary, left her unnerved. Generally, students agreed that the simple, clear directions outlined in the SRP are effective and understandable.
Still, students continue to raise various concerns regarding the system. Susanna Huang ‘27 noted, “As an international student, my friends and I talked about how different time zones can make it difficult for students to contact parents in these [emergency] circumstances.”
Hargraves discussed the future of safety protocol at Mercersburg, perhaps including student leadership on the emergency team. Regardless, the implementation of the Standard Response Protocol and Informacast messaging system represents greater efforts to increase campus safety and protect the community from potential dangers.