POCATELLO — Officials with Pocatello-Chubbuck School District 25 are releasing to the public its protocol for responding to school threats and other serious incidents.

The release comes after a social media threat to a school in New Mexico resulted in the deployment of local police to Century High School in Pocatello last week.

Kent Hobbs, the district director of student services and safety coordinator, told the Journal on Tuesday that the release of the protocol primarily serves two purposes. First, the district would like the public to know how it coordinates its efforts with local law enforcement agencies. And secondly, the district wants to assure parents that in serious incidents — other than an active-shooter scenario — the safest place for their children is inside the school.

“We thought it would be helpful to provide information about how we respond to threats or other incidents,” Hobbs said. “We also want the community to know what we are doing to try and keep kids safe.”

According to Sgt. Trent Whitney of the Pocatello Police Department, who oversees all District 25 school resource officers, a total of 236 students at Century High School were absent or checked out of school on Friday after a student brought to school officials a Snapchat screenshot of a school shooting threat directed to an unspecified “CHS” that was widely shared on other social media platforms. A total of 117 of those students specifically indicated the threat as the reason for their absence, Whitney added.

While the threat was directed at Clovis High School in Clovis, New Mexico, and a 17-year-old student of that school was arrested the day before the threat surfaced in Pocatello, high schools across the country that begin with the letter “C” entered into various safety protocols.

“The police were marvelous in investigating and navigating through that process as quick as possible,” Hobbs said about the police response to Century last week. “They identified a potential suspect in (Bannock County) before coming to the conclusion that the threat was made from out of state. Actually, Centennial High School in the Boise area also went into a controlled access of some kind because of the same post.”

Whitney said the incident investigation in Pocatello went extremely smooth and was routine, with Hobbs adding that the district simply wants be proactive in educating parents and district constituents on its emergency protocols.

During the district’s standard operating procedures, Hobbs said that all exterior doors remain locked at all times with the exception of one door at the school’s main entrance. All visitors are required to check in at the office, visitors and staff members wear identification badges, parents are asked to show identification before checking out a student, and any visitors or people without a badge are politely escorted to the office, Hobbs added.

Structured in a tier or level system, the next response protocol is what the district calls “heightened awareness,” which is not much different than standard protocol, Hobbs said.

Using the school intercom system or an email announcement, all staff are instructed to be on alert for anything unusual. Further, staff members are asked to periodically check the halls of the school for anything out of the ordinary.

The next level of security protocol is what the district calls “controlled access.”

“In the specific incident that occurred at Century High School last week, we went into what is called controlled access,” Hobbs said. “In a controlled-access scenario, the single door that is typically left unlocked is locked, and we place a staff member from the school at the door to let students and visitors in.”

Hobbs continued, “Very often in these scenarios when we go into controlled access there are thousands of text messages that go out to parents and soon enough we could have a flood of parents at the school. One of the things we need parents to understand is that the safest place in town when we go into controlled access is that particular school because we usually send police there.”

Controlled access is typically implemented if there is something going on in the community around the school but not directly inside the school, Hobbs added.

“During controlled access we don’t send kids out to recess and we escort students throughout the hallways inside the school,” Hobbs said. “We keep the flow of education going but we tighten down the security of the school.”

During a controlled-access scenario, the district will send out a message though its Infinite Campus system to parents of children attending the specific school affected by the threat that says that school is in controlled access and assures parents that their kids are safe, Hobbs said. However, to avoid confusion and the potential for more chaos, the notification is not sent to all parents of every school in the district, Hobbs added.

“We also send out information and updates on our Facebook page,” Hobbs said. “But we are very cautious about giving out any information that has not been confirmed.”

The final and most stringent protocol implemented by the district is called “lockdown.”

“We enter a lockdown situation typically when there is an active shooter or another threat directly inside the school,” Hobbs said. “We have teachers make sure their doors are locked and make the classrooms look abandoned by moving the kids and instructional staff away from doors and windows. We stay in that status until an emergency responder of some kind or an administrator comes and unlocks the door.”

Though the threat last week turned out to be a false alarm, Whitney said the motivation for releasing the protocols to the public is to reiterate to parents that the school is the safest place to be.

“I don’t know of a single documented incident in the nation where the police caught wind of an incident ahead of time, sent a response there to investigate and the attack or the incident continued,” Whitney said. “We want the public to know that when we respond to a school that it is in fact the safest place in town.”

Whitney continued, “If you remove your children from that location you are removing them from at least eight to 10 officers who are at the scene.”