EVERGREEN, Colo. — The emergency plan that Evergreen High School students and staff followed during the Sept. 10 shooting was created by a Colorado couple who lost their daughter in a school shooting nearly two decades ago.
Emily Keyes, 16, was one of several female students taken hostage by a gunman who walked into their classroom at Platte Canyon High School in 2006. Law enforcement says the gunman barricaded himself and the students in a classroom for several hours before ultimately killing Emily and himself.
"While she was held hostage, she was able to send a text message, 'I love you guys,'" said Emily's father, John-Michael Keyes. "Based on that text message, we started the I Love U Guys Foundation."
John-Michael and his wife, Ellen, started the foundation in order to turn their devastation into action by diving into school safety and crisis response. The I Love U Guys Foundation created the Standard Response Protocol, which is a set of directives for students and staff to follow during school incidents.
Since its creation in 2006, the foundation has helped more than 60,000 schools, school districts, departments, and agencies through a range of programs. Along with its Standard Response Protocol, the foundation gives guidelines on reunification methods and offers full-day training workshops.
"It's actually humbling, and it reminds us that we've got a profound obligation," John-Michael told Denver7. "Schools, districts, and agencies rely on the foundation to constantly evaluate and evolve our programs, and so it's humbling... and we're profoundly honored to hold the obligation."
Jeffco Public Schools was the first school district to implement the foundation's Standard Response Protocol. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has credited the quick actions of teachers and students inside Evergreen High School with saving countless lives on Sept. 10.
"Those teachers and those students did their job and took into account what they learned, and it kept them safe," said Jacki Kelley, public information officer for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
Denver Public Schools (DPS) is one of many other Denver metro school districts that follow the foundation's emergency plan. Tom Sebastiani, the DPS emergency manager, said the school district requires schools to practice the Standard Response Protocol drills twice a year, normally in September and January. He said the district offers additional exercises, drills, and tabletop exercises for staff.
"Something that's so successful and so practiced and studied is definitely reliable, which is why Denver Public Schools has adopted it," said Sebastiani.
John-Michael said as each year passes since his daughter's death, her memory lives on through the I Love U Guys Foundation and the safety it has been able to provide to other school-aged children.
