Police National Tactical Group commander Superintendent Bruce Dunstan said it was only a matter of time before a shooting took place in a New Zealand school.
Schools had plans in place for emergencies such as earthquakes, flooding and fires, but few were prepared for an armed incident.
Schools must think about pre-preparation, the availability of school plans and a point of contact for police, Supt Dunstan said.
They must also consider how they would raise the alarm and how they would react to such a situation.
In conjunction with the Ministry of Education and the New Zealand School Trustees Association (NZSTA), Supt Dunstan said he wanted a standard emergency response ratified so schools and police could be prepared and respond in a consistent way.
"If we're all on the same page, it doesn't matter whether the school is in Invercargill or Whangarei, the response and procedures will be the same for both schools and police."
However, Otago Southland Principals Association chairman and John McGlashan College principal Mike Corkery was cynical about the idea of creating a "one plan suits all" solution to a gunman in a school.
"How do you prepare for that? It's like a plane crashing into the school assembly hall. You can't plan for it - you just have to do the best thing you can under the circumstances."
Mr Corkery said one of the solutions may be to sound an alarm and put the school into a "lock-down" mode where no-one may enter or leave.
But to do so at John McGlashan College would be ludicrous because of the large number of glass windows in classrooms.
"Staff and pupils would be sitting targets for a gunman. Each school is different. I think it will be every principal for himself."
Mr Corkery was also sceptical about the likelihood of someone going on a shooting rampage at a New Zealand school.
He said he could not speak for other principals in Otago, but he had noticed a decrease in violence in his school grounds during the past 10 years.
"The odds of a gunman wandering school hallways are about the same as an earthquake or tsunami levelling the school."
Supt Dunstan will discuss police expectations of boards of trustees on the topic at the New Zealand School Trustees Asso-ciation's annual conference in Christchurch this weekend.
Police are in talks with the Ministry of Education and NZSTA over emergency preparedness for an armed incident.
Once a standardised response is agreed upon, NZSTA plans to include it in its online Readynet emergency management system.
