The safety of our students, staff, families, and visitors is of the utmost importance in Shoreline School District. 

We regularly partner with Shoreline Police, Shoreline Fire, Lake Forest Park Police, City of Shoreline and Northshore Emergency Management Coalition to conduct school safety and security site assessments that also help establish and maintain connections between these partners and school and district leadership. All schools and buildings have been visited once or more in the past two years, and we plan to visit all schools annually.

Our schools have secure perimeters where that is possible, most have secured vestibules, and all have cameras that monitor at least the main entrances. We have a vape detector trial running at one school to explore how to use this technology in our buildings. Every school and facility in our District has an emergency operations plan (EOP) that utilizes the Incident Command System (ICS). Learn more about emergency procedures

For the 2024-25 school year, we made some modifications to our emergency documentation, planning, and procedures to help ensure safety at our campuses.

What’s New This Year?

Emergency Procedures Posters

If you’ve been to one of our schools this year, you may have noticed the colorful emergency procedures posters that are placed in all classrooms, offices, and common spaces. These posters are designed to be quickly referenced by anyone on site in case of an emergency, and they supplement the complete emergency preparedness documentation that all staff have access to.

Staff Training

Through our online staff training system, all district employees have received training on the basics of the emergency procedures shown on the poster. Staff Emergency Procedures Training 

Building-based certificated staff, food and nutrition services staff, and some central office staff have also received in-depth training on lock down procedures, with an emphasis on how to safely get away from a dangerous situation at our schools. We are developing an on-demand lock down training video for staff who have not had the opportunity to receive in-person lock down training.

School Drills

Each school in Shoreline School District conducts monthly safety drills in compliance with OSPI requirements; twice each year, we conduct lock down drills. A lock down is initiated if there is a threat or perceived threat of imminent danger at one of our sites. This year, we released new lock down training videos to help students understand what to do in case of a dangerous situation at their schools. Below you can see the student lock down drill videos shown in classrooms to students in grades kindergarten-5 and in grade 6-12 classrooms.

Locking Down at School (K-5)

What if There’s a Lock Down At School? (6-12)

Many families received notice that their child would be participating in a lock down drill at school during the month of November, and there will be a second lock down video later this school year.

While incidents of mass violence at schools are extremely rare (despite what news and social media may lead us to believe), it is important that we have plans in place and practice what to do, in age-appropriate ways, to help maximize safety in this unlikely situation. Please note that our schools do not drill on running away from a threat, nor do drills involve any real-life footage or imagery that could cause trauma.

It can be difficult to think that an act of violence could occur at our schools; however, training, planning, and drilling on locking down can be thought of as our insurance policy in case of an event. We hope we never have to use it, but if a situation does arise, our plans and training are there to support everyone’s safety.