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Spearfish School District adopts SRO agreement as officer outlines standardized emergency steps
Summary
Spearfish School District 40-2 trustees heard a Standard Response Protocol presentation from School Resource Officer Sam Funk and approved a memorandum of understanding with the City of Spearfish governing the district's school resource officer.
Sam Funk, a Spearfish police officer and the district's school resource officer, presented the district's Standard Response Protocol (SRP) at the Sept. 8 board meeting and described how the simple, five-term system will guide staff and students during emergencies.
"It is called the standard response protocol, SRP. It is by the I Love You Guys Foundation," Funk said, summarizing the program's origin and purpose. Funk listed the SRP actions: "The first action is hold... The second action is secure... The third action is lock down... The fourth action is evacuate," and explained that the district is merging SRP with portions of the ALICE approach to create a single vocabulary for staff and students.
The presentation emphasized practical classroom steps: holding in place to clear hallways, securing outside doors while allowing internal movement, locking down only when there is a suspected internal threat, and designated shelter or evacuation procedures for natural hazards. Funk also addressed communications during incidents, advising limited social media and staged parent notifications to avoid disrupting first-responder communications.
During discussion, the superintendent recommended approval of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the City of Spearfish that formalizes the school resource officer role. The superintendent said the MOU had been "well vetted" by school and city attorneys and earlier review with local law enforcement.
On a motion and second, the board voted to approve the School Resource Officer memorandum of understanding with the City of Spearfish. The board also directed continued building-level drills; district staff said each school will practice all five SRP statuses at least once this year.
The board left open routine implementation steps: district staff will coordinate local drills, communicate changes to families and finalize the logistics of SRO duties under the MOU. The meeting adjourned after routine business.
