The Pennsylvania General Assembly passed Act 44 of 2025, which establishes consistent, statewide requirements for how school districts notify families and staff about incidents involving items classified as weapons.

Under Act 44, notifications are required in a wide range of situations, including some that do not pose a safety risk or disrupt the school day, such as toy items that resemble weapons or a utensil like a dinner knife that was unintentionally packed in a student’s lunch. While these messages are meant to keep families and staff informed, the increase in their frequency may raise questions about school safety. Please be assured that our classrooms remain just as safe as ever. The higher number of notifications simply reflects our responsibility to comply with the state’s broader requirements.

What to Expect

In the event of a true safety emergency, families will continue to receive notifications via phone call, text message, and email, as appropriate. For the Act 44 weapons-related notifications, we will follow these procedures.

• If a weapon-related incident occurs, an email will be sent to families and staff of the affected school within 24 hours. If the school shares a campus, such as Valley View Elementary and York Suburban High School, both school communities will be notified.
• If an incident occurs on school transportation or at a school-sponsored activity, notifications will be sent to the families and staff connected to that vehicle or event.
• Emails will be sent from Dr. Rebecca Lorfink, District Assistant Superintendent/School Safety and Security Coordinator.

What Notifications Will (and Will Not) Include

Notifications will share basic information about the date and location of the incident. Because of confidentiality laws, we are not permitted to share student names, grade levels, or other identifying details with families. While specific disciplinary actions cannot be disclosed, please be assured that all incidents are addressed in accordance with Board policy and, when appropriate, in coordination with local law enforcement.

How You Can Help

Conversations, both at school and at home, are essential in maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment. We encourage you to:

• Remind students that weapons of any kind (including toys) are not permitted on school property.
• Talk with students about their role in keeping our schools safe and reinforce the importance of See Something, Say Something, which helps staff respond quickly and appropriately.

Caring for our students and staff is at the heart of everything we do, and we are grateful for the trust you place in us each day.

Safe2Say Something is a youth violence prevention program run by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. The program teaches youth and adults how to recognize warning signs and signals, especially within social media, from individuals who may be a threat to themselves or others and encourages them to “say something” before it is too late.

How can you submit a tip?
There are three options for submitting an anonymous tip:

• Call the tipline: 1-844-SAF2SAY (1-844-723-2729)
• Use the website: https://www.safe2saypa.org
• Use the mobile app available in iOS and Android stores

How does it work?

• Submit an anonymous tip report through the Safe2Say Something system
• Crisis center reviews, assesses and processes all submissions
• Crisis center sends all submissions to school administration and/or law enforcement for intervention
• The school and, as needed, local law enforcement, assess and intervene with the at-risk individual
• If additional information is needed, crisis center may contact tipster anonymously through the app

For additional information and answers to frequently asked questions, please visit the Safe2SaySomething website.

Part of keeping students and staff safe is knowing who is in our buildings at all times, and the Raptor Visitor Management System allows us to quickly identify those who may present a danger to our students. Additionally, in the unlikely event of an incident, police and other authorities will have access to these electronic visitor logs, which have a photograph of the visitor and a date and time stamp of their entry and exit times.

How does it work?
Upon entering a district building, visitors will be asked to present an ID, such as a Driver’s License, which can be scanned or manually entered into the system. If a parent or guardian does not have a US government-issued ID, the school staff member can use any form of identification and manually enter the person’s name into the Raptor system.

The Raptor system checks the visitor's name and date of birth for comparison with a national registered sex offender database and a database created by the district that includes parents or guardians with custody issues, restraining orders, etc. No other data from the ID is gathered or recorded, and the information is not shared with any outside agency.

If no concerning matches are found, Raptor will issue a badge that identifies the visitor, the date, and the purpose of his/her visit. Upon completion of the visit, the visitor will return to the office to return their badge to a staff member and then exit the building through the entrance.

The process to scan an ID, run the check, and print a badge takes about 30 seconds to complete, and a visitor’s badge will not be necessary for those who are only dropping off an item in the office or picking up paperwork or a student.

For additional information about our procedures and expectations for visitors, please refer to Board Policy 907: School Visitors.

To enhance the safety of our students and staff, York Suburban School District has joined other school districts, departments, municipalities, and organizations in the adoption of the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) for emergency response and communication.

Created by the "I Love U Guys" Foundation,  Standard Response Protocol (SRP) is an all-hazards approach that uses clear, common language to provide a flexible framework for responding to incidents. 

The protocol is built on five specific actions: Hold, Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate, and Shelter.

Hold: Used when hallways or common areas need to be cleared. During a Hold, students and staff remain in their current area until an "All Clear" is announced. Otherwise, business continues as usual inside the school.

Secure: Called when a danger exists outside the building. All students and staff are brought inside. Classes will continue as normal. Depending on the situation, dismissal or entrance to the building by visitors may be delayed until more information is obtained or the situation is resolved.

Lockdown: Initiated when there is an active threat inside or very close to the building. Students and staff will move out of sight, maintain silence, and not open the door. 

Evacuate: Implemented when students and staff are moved from one location to another. Students leave their belongings behind if necessary and follow all instructions. Staff will lead students to the designated evacuation location and account for everyone.

Shelter: Used for specific hazards such as a tornado, hazmat incident, or earthquake. The specific safety strategy would be announced based on the hazard, and may include actions such as "Drop, cover, and hold."

Important Information About Drills

Our schools will train and practice these protocols. We may conduct unannounced drills, but lockdown drills will always be announced in advance to minimize unnecessary distress.

As part of our ongoing efforts, the District conducts drills throughout the school year with staff and provides age-appropriate training to students. The goal of any drill is to improve our ability to protect students. While students and staff are aware that the drill will be occurring, specifics about the date and time are not being shared, allowing us to better evaluate our emergency preparedness plans and improve our response skills.

We know that when an emergency occurs, your first instinct as a parent is to want immediate information about your child. In any emergency, our first priority is always the safety of our students and staff. This means we must work closely with law enforcement and emergency responders before we share information publicly. Sharing details too quickly can sometimes interfere with their response or even put people at greater risk.

We will communicate with families as soon as it is safe and accurate to do so. While there may be a delay between the start of an incident and when you receive an official update, you can be assured that we are acting immediately to protect students and will keep you informed as the situation allows.

It is important that your contact information is updated any time a change occurs, so you receive important information in any emergency. Please contact your child’s school with any changes to your phone number or email address. Your trust and patience during difficult moments is greatly appreciated.

As part of our ongoing focus to create and maintain a safe, positive school culture at York Suburban, Student Care Teams have been established across the district. The primary functions of these teams are to support students proactively, encourage communication between students and trusted adults, and decrease the likelihood of tragic events in our community. Members of the Student Care Teams are trained to conduct threat assessments using an evidence-based, proactive approach.

Please visit the Student Care Teams webpage for additional information and contact forms.

Informational videos geared toward parents, caregivers, and students are offered to those interested in learning more about the threat assessment process. Those videos, through the Youth Violence Project, are available at the links below:

School Safety and Threat Assessment Video - Parents (English)

School Safety and Threat Assessment Video - Parents (Spanish)

For the safety of students and staff members, any adult wishing to volunteer is required to complete our Volunteer Application Process before being approved to do so. Additional information can be found on our Volunteer Information page.