LA GRANDE — In the wake of May’s deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, American school districts, government officials and law enforcement are searching for solutions to school safety issues.

The InterMountain Education Service District, in partnership with local law enforcement and regional school districts, aims to address safety in Oregon schools during a School Security Summit on Monday, Aug. 8.

“Uvalde rocked us, just like Sandy Hook did,” said Mark Mulvihill, IMESD superintendent. “As we go back to in-person instruction, we want the public to be assured that we’re working hard to deal with active shooter situations.”

IMESD serves almost two dozen school districts in four counties — Morrow, Umatilla, Union and Baker — and aims to have representation from each one. According to Mulvihill, almost 150 people will be in attendance at the summit, from police officers and sheriff deputies to educators, superintendents and school mental health providers.

The agency’s last school safety summit took place in 2016. Mulvihill acknowledged the tremendous turnover of law enforcement and district staff that may have occurred in the six years since as a motivation for this year’s event.

He also noted the pandemic’s impact on school safety issues.

“We’ve been so focused on COVID safety protocols that our active shooter training has been on the back burner,” he said.

For Mulvihill, the implementation of this common language between schools and law enforcement is a crucial aspect of making emergency responses in schools more efficient.

“It’s critical that we agree on the same vocabulary terms for emergency situations,” he said.

IMESD led a region-wide effort in 2016 to encourage all school districts in the area to adopt the same security terminology that could be used in the event of an emergency. This Standard Response Protocol, created by the “I Love U Guys” Foundation, aims to improve communication between school administrators and law enforcement officers in emergencies.

Although not every district has adopted this new terminology, Mulvihill credited local law enforcement for their continued commitment to school safety.

“I cannot be more impressed by the response of law enforcement at this time,” he said. “Their commitment to schools in this area has been stunning.”

Union County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Justin Hernandez, a school resource officer for the La Grande School District, is planning to attend the August summit. Hernandez said he is looking forward to seeing what protocols are becoming standardized across the state and country, and how La Grande schools can keep up.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what we can implement in the La Grande School District,” he said.

The La Grande school district currently uses the Run, Hide, Fight protocol and does not have standardized terminology it uses with the Union County Sheriff’s Office. Hernandez said he is curious about the foundation’s terminology and hopes to learn more about how effective it is in school settings.

“We are always wanting to evolve, grow and build, especially when it comes to safety,” he said. “Anything that is going to give us the upper hand and that will give kids a safe learning environment and teachers a safe teaching environment, we want to implement it.”

Mulvihill is hopeful that the summit will strengthen the relationship between school districts and their local law enforcement agencies. As for school safety, Mulvihill made clear his goals for the summit.

“I hope the districts are going out into this school year with confidence that they have put in the time to make sure everything is secure and safe.”

The summit will be closed to the public, but Mark Mulvihill, IMESD superintendent, encouraged community members to look to their local law enforcement and media outlets for more information about the outcome of the event.

For more information about the summit, please email IMESD Superintendent Mulvihill at mark.mulvihill@imesd.k12.or.us. To learn about standardized protocol terminology, visit www.iloveuguys.org. To learn how to report school safety threats, visit www.safeoregon.com.