The Incident Command System (ICS) is a “response method that determines the role of everyone responding to a crisis and defines a shared vocabulary and shared expectations of behavior” (Texas School Safety Center, 2020). Agencies and first responders that provide assistance during a school emergency all use ICS during a crisis. It is imperative that school staff and safety teams understand and are comfortable using the ICS shared vocabulary when interacting with first responders during a crisis. Additionally, utilizing the shared vocabulary during the planning phases of critical incident response will assist in building trust and collaboration between diverse organizations.