Beyond the Plan: The Reality of Rapid Response

Presenters

• Dr. Chanda Battle, Edgecombe County Public SchoolsFollow
• Dr. Leondus Farrow Jr., Nash County Public SchoolsFollow

First Presenter's Highest Degree Earned

EdD

Year First Presenter's Degree Was Awarded

2021

First Presenter's Field of Study

Education

Institution Where First Presenter Received Highest Degree

East Carolina University

First Presenter's Institution

Edgecombe County Public Schools

First Presenter's Brief Bio and Description of Credentials for This Presentation

Driven by a passion for equity and student well-being, Dr. Chanda Battle brings deep expertise in trauma-informed leadership and school safety.A former high school principal of a high-needs, trauma-impacted school, she now serves as Director of Student Support Services for Edgecombe County. In this role, she leverages her experience to collaborate with stakeholders—including law enforcement and emergency management—to design innovative, equitable systems that promote safe learning environments. Dr. Battle is helping lead the region with layered, forward-thinking approaches to school safety and crisis response.

Second Presenter's Institution

Nash County Public Schools

Second Presenter’s Email Address

llfarrow@ncpschools.net

Second Presenter's Highest Degree Earned

EdD

Year Second Presenter's Degree Was Awarded

2022

Second Presenter's Field of Study

Education

Institution Where Second Presenter Received Highest Degree

East Carolina University

Second Presenter's Brief Bio and Description of Credentials for This Presentation

Dr. Leondus Farrow, Jr. is the Associate Superintendent for Nash County Public Schools. A former high school principal, he brings extensive experience working with students impacted by trauma and gang involvement. He partners with community organizations, law enforcement, and emergency management to build structures that support student safety, equity, and success. Dr. Farrow is at the forefront of regional efforts to implement layered, innovative strategies for school safety and emergency preparedness.

Location

Scarbrough 3

Document Type

Individual Presentation

Primary Strand

School Safety

Relevance to Primary Strand

The proposal is an interactive, tabletop experience to explore current safety strategies and any gaps that may exist for stakeholders.

Alignment with School Improvement Plan Topics

School Safety

Brief Program Description

In this immersive session, participants will engage in a school emergency tabletop exercise designed to push the limits of their current emergency operations plans. As the scenario unfolds, participants will face developments that challenge standard protocols. This session introduces dilemmas, and complications that require adaptive thinking and collaboration. Through guided debriefs, participants will analyze their responses, confront blind spots, and explore innovative approaches to improve school safety and threat preparedness. The experience will provide fresh insights and provoke meaningful dialogue with colleagues about what it truly means to be prepared.

Summary

Title: School Emergency Tabletop Exercise: Applying the Standard Response Protocol (SRP)

This interactive 75-minute tabletop exercise immerses school and district leaders in a realistic, evolving emergency scenario designed to strengthen their application of the I Love U Guys Foundation’s Standard Response Protocol (SRP). Participants will step into the role of decision-makers during a simulated school crisis—a high school receiving credible text threats referencing both drugs and a weapon—requiring quick analysis, coordinated communication, and adaptive leadership under pressure.

Through facilitated discussion, participants will examine each phase of the incident: the initial threat, the School Resource Officer’s response, complications created by partial lockdown activation, and evolving information that challenges communication and coordination. The scenario provides an opportunity for teams to evaluate their existing Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs), identify potential blind spots, and practice real-time decision-making guided by SRP actions: Hold, Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate, and Shelter.

Learning outcomes emphasize applying SRP principles to dynamic situations, assessing the accuracy and timeliness of communication during a crisis, and adapting leadership response when key personnel (such as the principal) are unavailable. Participants will collaborate in small groups to develop action steps that strengthen their school’s readiness, improve interagency coordination, and promote a unified, calm, and effective response to emergencies.

By the end of the session, attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how to operationalize SRP in complex, real-world conditions, as well as a personalized action plan for improving emergency preparedness within their schools or districts. This exercise reinforces the importance of planning, communication, and collaboration in ensuring student and staff safety under any circumstance.

Evidence

This proposal is grounded in research on experiential learning, adult professional development, and crisis preparedness that demonstrates how active engagement in realistic scenarios promotes deeper understanding and retention of safety protocols. Studies on tabletop exercises in school safety (Homeland Security, 2020; Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools [REMS], 2022) highlight that when administrators, educators, and first responders work through dynamic, discussion-based simulations, they strengthen not only procedural knowledge but also the critical thinking and teamwork needed to respond effectively in real crises.

The Standard Response Protocol (SRP), developed by the I Love U Guys Foundation, is a nationally recognized, research-aligned framework for unifying emergency response language across schools and agencies. Research supports the SRP’s structured yet flexible approach—its five clear actions (Hold, Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate, Shelter) help reduce confusion, accelerate decision-making, and improve coordination during emergencies (Colorado School Safety Resource Center, 2023). Embedding SRP practice within a scenario-based exercise allows participants to move beyond theoretical understanding to practical application—testing decision pathways, communication strategies, and leadership roles in real time.

The use of tabletop exercises aligns with Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory, which emphasizes learning through experience, reflection, conceptualization, and active experimentation. By engaging in an authentic, evolving scenario, participants construct meaning collaboratively, bridge the gap between policy and practice, and identify opportunities to strengthen their school emergency operations plans.

Ultimately, this session uses evidence-based methods to transform procedural training into adaptive learning. Participants leave not only knowing what the SRP actions are—but also when, how, and why to use them to protect students and staff under complex and rapidly changing circumstances.

Learning Objective 1

Participants will be able to engage in a realistic and evolving emergency scenario that mirrors the complexities of an actual school-based active threat event.

Learning Objective 2

Participants will be able to reflect on gaps between written plans and real-world execution, and strategize improvements tailored to their school or district context.

Learning Objective 3

Participants will be able to collaborate with peers to generate innovative, adaptable responses to evolving threats and challenges in school safety.

Start Date

6-2-2026 3:45 PM

End Date

6-2-2026 4:45 PM

Recommended Citation

Battle, Dr. Chanda and Farrow, Dr. Leondus Jr., "Beyond the Plan: The Reality of Rapid Response" (2026). Southeast Conference on School Climate. 72.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/secsc/2026/2026/72

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.