Wake County schools will use a new emergency response system in 2026, following a school board vote Tuesday night to work with a foundation to improve school's crisis response.

It's intended to communicate how students and staff should respond more clearly by using action words and dropping the district's "code red," "code yellow" and "code green" system.

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The school board approved, without opposition, a memorandum of understanding with the "I Love U Guys" Foundation to help implement the foundation's "Standard Response Protocol" -- a move that would mean new training and drills on emergency response for students, school employees and some emergency responders.

The "Standard Response Protocol" consists of five possible measures an organization would take in responding to an emergency, such as one caused by an intruder, a weather event, fire or some other type of accident or incident.

Those five measures are:

  • Hold, indicated by a purple symbol, used to tell people to stay in their room or area and keep out of hallways
    • Secure, indicated by a blue symbol, used to tell people to get inside and lock doors
      • Lockdown, indicated by a red symbol, used to tell people to lock their spaces, turn out their lights and stay out of sight
        • Evacuate, indicated by a green symbol, used to tell people to leave their location and, sometimes, which one to go to instead
          • Shelter, indicated by an orange symbol, used to tell people of a hazard, such as a tornado, and what safety strategies they should take

            Most of the measures are similar to protocols already used by the district but called something else. "Hold" would be a new directive.

            Under both "Hold" and "Secure," school business would take place as usual, but with doors locked and attendance taken.

            The new system replaces the code red, code yellow and code green system that schools use right now, beginning with the 2026-27 school year.

            Kendrick Scott, the district's senior director of the Office of Security, said the color-based system is confusing because it doesn't communicate a specific action for people to take.

            He thinks the Standard Response Protocol will remove the cloudiness of the color-based system.

            "If I say 'code red' to you and you're not from Wake County School System, you're like, 'What does that mean?'" Scott said. "If I say 'code yellow' to you, you don't know what that means. But if I tell you that you need to lock down, and I followed that with the command of what to do, it's much easier for you. It takes all that coded stuff out, and that's something that emergency responders have been moving towards for years now. It's just plain speak."

            'Code red means an emergency on school property. Code yellow means an emergency near school property, but not on it. Code green means all is clear. Code red and code yellow trigger specific actions by staff and students.

            Scott -- and others -- believe commanding an action first is more effective than conveying the color first.

            When the "I love U Guys" Foundation first started up, schools within the same system were often using different terms in the same types of emergencies, such as a "code red" or a "level six," said Pat Hamilton, alliance director for the "I Love U Guys" Foundation. That was not just confusing for staff and students but also for law enforcement trying to respond and having to learn each school's terms and protocols.

            "We want to create common language for not only our first responders, but for our school staff," Hamilton said. "Our parents in the community need to know that as well. And our students, our students need to know what to do when a crisis is occurring in their facility."

            He estimates at least 60,000 schools are now using the group's "Standard Response Protocol."

            One of those is Durham Public Schools.

            There, first responders train to use it alongside DPS employees. That "strengthens coordination, reduces confusion, and ensures a unified response during real-world emergencies," Eva Howard, district executive director of safety and security and emergency management, said in a statement to WRAL News. "By implementing the SRP and training together with our first responder partners, we enhance safety across all campuses and empower our school communities with tools to respond with confidence."

            As a part of the proposed two-year arrangement with the "I Love U Guys" Foundation, the school system will provide information and training on the standard response protocol to emergency responders in the county, students, personnel and others. The school system won't pay the foundation for using its protocol.

            The "I Love U Guys" Foundation was started by Ellen and John-Michael Keyes after their daughter, Emily, was taken hostage by a fellow student at her Colorado high school and killed. She had texted some form of the phrase to each of her parents.