Hays County SRP Task Force to host reunification training

Local law enforcement agencies, school safety directors, administration staff and Hays County Office of Emergency Services staff will take part in reunification training later this month.

The Hays County Standard Response Protocol Task Force is helping bring the “I Love U Guys” Foundation’s Standard Reunification Method’s Standard Reunification Method - Reunification Exercise to Hays County through a generous sponsorship from Austin Regional Intelligence Center.

Reunification takes place when staff and local emergency responders reunify parents and guardians with their students after an incident requires evacuation from facilities and schools. The “I Love U Guys” Foundation will come to Hays County later this month to work with those who have a role in reunification to ensure there’s common understanding of the process, establish the use of common language and strengthen the relations between community partners. The “I Love U Guys" Foundation has established the Standard Reunification Method which provides schools with methods to conduct successful reunification.

“This training is absolutely necessary to ensure that the reunification process following an emergency or disaster at a school is as safe and efficient as possible,” County Director of OES Mike Jones said.

Approximately 130 attendees are expected at the two-day session, which will include classroom training, tabletop exercises, functional demonstrations and active exercise to prepare to conduct reunification of students with parents or guardians.

“It’s important that we are all operating from the same playbook because during disasters, things tend to get chaotic,” said Laurie Taylor, OES Planner. “By doing some advance planning, we can work in tandem with parents and guardians to ensure children are reunited as efficiently as possible.”

The Hays County Standard Response Protocol Task Force — a group of emergency responders and school safety staff — had several members attend training in 2021, Hays County said in a news release, adding that they unanimously agreed it was a critical piece of emergency response and advocated for the training for the county.

“Doug Wozniak [Safety Director with San Marcos ISD] and I attended last year’s session with John-Michael Keyes in Travis County and knew we needed to bring this kind of training to our team here in Hays County,” said Taylor, who leads the county’s SRP Task Force.

The county said OES staff will film activities and interviews with stakeholders during the training to share information with the public, specifically parents.

“We want to be able to give parents a sense of what steps we take in the event of a reunification and how they can also be prepared by following the guidelines from emergency responders and school staff,” Taylor said. The county added that Taylor emphasized the importance of reunification from “a safety standpoint and that schools are tasked with reunifying students with the appropriate adult who is legally allowed to pick them up from school.”

The “I Love U Guys” Foundation was created by Ellen and John-Michael Keyes in 2006 after their daughter Emily was killed in a school shooting. Emily sent two text messages on that day, one to her mother Ellen, “I love u guys. K,” and “I love you guys,” to her father. The foundation — which is led and supported by survivors, family members, first responders and community members with a vested interest in safety, preparedness and reunification in schools — trains people around the country in its Standard Response Protocol method.