Wake schools will phase out ‘Code Red’ for lockdowns. These alerts will replace it
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Wake school board approved a shift from color codes to clear alert terms by 2026.
- New terms like 'Hold' and 'Secure' aim to improve clarity during emergencies.
- District plans staff and student training during 2025 to prepare for protocol change.
Wake County students, parents and teachers will soon have new words to describe threats and emergencies on school campuses.
Terms like “Code Red” and “Code Yellow” will be replaced by words like “hold,” “shelter” and “lockdown” as part of a crisis response system that’s now widely used in schools across the country.
The Wake County school board approved Tuesday a new notification system to replace the color-coded alert system. The new system will go into effect in the 2026-27 school year.
Kendrick Scott, Wake’s senior director for security, told the school board they’ll use the next year to get people used to the new system.
“In this coming school year, we’re going to continue with what we have, because this is a very large cultural shift for us,” Scott said. “We’re going to use the runway of this coming year to do a lot of teaching and a lot of training.”
Code Red lockdowns in schools
Wake County has been using color codes to designate the level of emergency:
- Code Yellow is used for a community emergency where the threat is near the school but not directed at the school. Examples include a shooting or armed robbery near the school.
- Code Red is used for a school emergency where the threat is on the property or inside the school. Examples include a report of a person on campus with a gun or a bomb threat.
- Code Green is used when the emergency is over. Normal operations resume at the school
- Fire alarm is the term used to evacuate a school, regardless of the reason.
- Severe weather alert is used to tell the people inside the school to shelter in place.
A security audit of the district from the Florida-based School Safety Advocacy Council recommended retiring the “coded word speak,” Scott said.
“We’ve had our procedure in place for many, many years and threats have evolved over time and our response has not,” Scott said.
Wake’s new Standard Response Protocol
Wake will switch next year to the “Standard Response Protocol” developed by the Colorado-based I Love U Guys Foundation. The foundation was created in 2006 by two parents following the death of their daughter in a school shooting. Her last words to them were a text message saying, “I love u guys.”
Under the new system:
- “Secure” is similar to the current Code Yellow.
- “Hold” means keep students in classrooms, out of hallways. Wake says it’s an action between Code Yellow and Code Red.
- “Lockdown” is similar to Code Red.
- “Evacuate” will be used to move people into or out of certain parts of the building.
- “Shelter” will be used to move people into a shelter in place condition within the building.
“This is a movement upward and an enhancement to what we’re doing,” Scott said.
Scott said the new system allows for more flexibility than the current model in managing emergencies and provides terms in clear to understand language.
The Standard Response Protocol is used in more than 50,000 schools, districts, departments, agencies, organizations and municipalities around the world, according to the foundation.
The system is free to use. But Scott said Wake can pay to have the foundation train the district in its use.
This story was originally published August 19, 2025 at 8:14 PM.
