School Safety & Security

All staff members have access to a panic alarm app via their cell phone, iPad, and work computer. Users are able to:

• Alert an administrator in the building that they need assistance quickly. Teacher assist is used intraschool for non-life-threatening communications.
• Call 911 in an emergency situation for help with the click of a single button.
• Report an armed intruder, which will lock down the school and call 911.
• Principals or other administrators can push safety information to staff through the app.

Teachers and staff needing more information should contact their building administrator.

In addition, classrooms are equipped with landlines, and administrators and security officers always carry two-way radios.

Every exterior door across all locations is clearly numbered. These numbered doors assist emergency responders so they can quickly identify which entrance to use in the event of an emergency. RCPS also provides public safety agencies with electronic floor plans and access to live/recorded video at all schools. RCPS works closely with the Roanoke Police Department, Roanoke Sheriff's Department, and Roanoke Fire-EMS. This includes the use of School Resource Officers (SROs) at all schools in addition to RCPS' school security officers (SSOs).

RCPS has a School Resource Officer (SRO) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that is reviewed and updated for approval every two years in partnership with the Roanoke Police Department and City of Roanoke Sheriff’s Office. SROs provide a daily law enforcement presence in our schools and help to promote positive and supportive school climates and create and maintain safe and secure school environments. SROs are assigned to monitor all RCPS elementary, middle, high schools, and programs.

RCPS held a Virtual Safety Summit on Wednesday, April 20, 2022. The Safety Summit brought together 13 local, regional, and national experts to discuss the current challenges and research-based best practices related to school safety. Panelists included RCPS leaders, City of Roanoke leaders, and local and national mental health and physical safety experts. The recorded livestream can be viewed below.

RCPS prioritizes providing students with the teachers, staff, and administrators they need to succeed. Between 2022 and 2025, RCPS reallocated positions from Central Office to schools to support student behavior, and school safety efforts. In addition, all schools have multiple school administrators to assist with school safety and administration. All schools have at least one principal and assistant principal, and schools with larger enrollments have two or three assistant principals. 

SpeakUp for Safety is a 24/7 tip line that allows students, families, and community members to confidentially report concerns about student well-being or school safety, such as bullying, planned fights, students in crisis, threats, weapons, or other urgent situations.

How to Report a Concern:
📞 Call or text: (540) 200-1999
✉️ Email: Send an email

RCPS partners with Gaggle, whose trained safety experts monitor all reports around the clock. Tips are reviewed and categorized by severity, with immediate alerts sent to school or division contacts when needed. In urgent cases, Gaggle may initiate a wellness check.

The tip line does not replace 911. We also encourage you to call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 if you or someone you know is struggling and needs to talk.. SpeakUp for Safety information is shared regularly with students and families and posted in all RCPS schools.

RCPS uses an integrated mass notification system to deliver timely information to families and staff through phone, text, email, and a mobile app. Updates over the past several years have included clear protocols to distinguish general robocalls from urgent safety messages, including third-party partners in emergency messages, and creating a dedicated flow chart clarifying how and when RCPS will communicate during an emergency

All families are automatically registered to receive messages when they provide RCPS with their contact information when submitting school enrollment/annual verification paperwork. 

RCPS provides video-based, phone-based, and in-person language interpretation for families who speak a language other than English and/or who use American Sign Language (ASL). All schools have a custom language assistance phone number that families can call to initiative interpretation services. That phone number is available at the bottom (footer) of each school website. School staff are also able to initiate language assistance services. 

RCPS implements mindfulness-based and trauma-responsive practices that support all students and staff. RCPS works from an adapted model of the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) model of Trauma-Informed Care. These practices help young people and adults build healthy identities, manage emotions, achieve personal and collective goals, show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.

RCPS employs counselors, social workers, and school psychologists in schools to ensure students have the supports they need to be successful. Therapists from Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare have also been assigned to middle schools.

School counselors and school social workers provide individual and group counseling to students as needed. They are master’s level mental health clinicians with extensive training in child development and psychology. Counselors and social workers provide developmentally appropriate, goal-focused, brief counseling sessions to address issues related to mental health, wellness, achievement, or college and career readiness. Individual counseling can be requested by a student, family member, or staff member and is provided on a short-term basis.

Counselors and social workers also offer crisis counseling to help students navigate critical and emergency situations that may occur internally or within their community or family.

In addition, small group counseling is offered to students on a variety of topics. Students in a group have similar developmental or situational challenges. The goal of group counseling, which typically lasts six to eight sessions, is to improve achievement, attendance, wellness, and/or behavioral outcomes.

RCPS also has a Coordinator of Mindfulness Education who works with teachers who have been trained as Mindfulness Coaches across the division. Mindfulness is about learning to train your attention to the present moment without dwelling on what has happened in the past or worrying about the future. The goal of mindfulness is for students to be present in the classroom and ready and able to learn what is being taught without distraction from what is happening elsewhere in their lives.

The Community Empowerment Center at Booker T. Washington opened in July 2025 as a one-stop shop to support families in their child's education. Families may enroll students, receive physical and mental health services, participate in workshops on a variety of topics that families have requested, receive navigation support, and pick up school supplies and personal hygiene items. 

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The Department of Student Success & Support Services coordinates prevention and intervention services that support students’ social, emotional, and behavioral growth. Staff work with schools and families to reduce barriers to learning, promote positive behavior, and ensure every student learns in a safe and supportive environment. The department also oversees counseling, mental health services, and youth engagement and development programs that help students build strong connections and thrive in and out of school.

As part of the enhanced 2022 safety measures, positions were  reallocated from Central Office to schools to strengthen direct student support. The department also collaborates with the the Dpartment of Insruction and Administration to focus on student accountability. In addition, the Student Code of Conduct was revised in student-friendly language to clearly outline expectations, intervention strategies, and disciplinary procedures that promote responsibility and respect across all schools.

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RCPS partners with Hazel Health to support students' physical and mental well-being without any out-of-pocket costs for families. In addition to receiving support from school counslors and nurses, students can speak with a therapist and see a medical provider from the convenience of school or the comfort of home with the parent/guardian's consent. 

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