Category: Uncategorized

Dig Out from the Shifting Sands of Priority

Posted on | by Tori Carter-Tucker

A District Security Personnel’s Perspective

Since schools are temporarily closed in Colorado due to the spread of COVID-19, I’m thinking back to my career in K-12 public schools and what I can do with extra time on my hands. During the school year, I remember being very busy with day-to-day things that would come up and feeling like the things that were important were being buried under the urgencies of the day. As a year-round employee, I remember looking forward to Summer Break, or even the brief respite of Winter Break that allowed me to do things I knew were important.

So now, with time on my hands, unable to go to the office each day, what do I do to continue working on our district’s safety? I’m getting paid, I have a job, and I have some short, medium, and long-term goals I’ve been trying to make time for – what a great opportunity! Should I spend a little extra time forming my persuasive arguments for that grant request that would give me the resources to move a project forward? Yes, a resounding yes! After all, chances of getting limited school district funds allocated to this school safety project are slim, there are simply too many other priorities competing for the funds. Now that I have some alone time without the latest mini-crisis erupting at one of my schools, I can do some research, gather my thoughts, and make my best case why my district is deserving of these funds.

Could I also spend some time re-visiting the FEMA online safety courses I last took four years ago? Yes! I’m guessing they have been updated since I last took the course and I have the opportunity to follow the links to learn more. I am finally able to delve more deeply into these topics that might make a difference and will certainly make me more informed, perhaps even leading to better decisions the next time our district crisis team comes together to deal with any crisis: the broken water main, the science room mishap that became a HAZMAT release, the latest bomb threat, or the 100 white mice released at the high school as the Senior Prank of the year.

When was the last time I checked to be sure I had the right names and numbers in the Crisis Plan for the health department, or the disaster recovery company? I’ve got a little time, why not look it up, make a few calls, and be more prepared to call the indoor air quality firm to do air testing the next time a student spills a jar of mercury he found in his grandfather’s garage in the middle of the cafeteria at lunchtime? I can’t remember the last time I chatted with the SRO sergeant; I wonder how she’s doing?

Yes, even though I’m at home for the next few weeks with this social distancing, there’s still plenty of work I could get done. My binge watching of Better Call Saul can wait, I’ve got some work to do.

From Our Team

Posted on | by Tori Carter-Tucker

With the spread of COVID-19, we find ourselves in a difficult time. Our thoughts are with everyone who has been impacted by this situation. We will continue to operate in the best interests of our families, customers, and communities.

The health and safety of everyone in our SchoolSAFE family is our priority.

• To protect our team members, customers, and the communities we serve, we will temporarily close our offices through 04/06/2020.
• During this time, our offices will be professionally cleaned and sanitized.
• Our employees will be fully supported while our offices are closed.
• We will continue to offer our customers the option to communicate via email and other telecommuting methodologies to continue to make their schools safer.

We will keep you posted as we follow the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as local and U.S. government officials.

Thank you for being part of our SchoolSAFE community.

2020 Grant Funding

Posted on | by Tori Carter-Tucker

Funding is being allocated to improve school safety throughout the country.
What are you doing to improve the safety in your schools?

Here at SchoolSAFE, we pride ourselves in our ability to empower community partnerships. Throughout our trainings, we encourage school safety teams and public safety personnel to work together to improve their communications during an emergency.

An added bonus during these trainings occurs when ideas are shared and improvements are made between the professional first responders and those in charge at the school. Many times, discussions for improvement include the necessity of funding to accomplish what was talked about.

Because of the current climate in school safety, there are many opportunities to apply for funding. Improvements to schools in their communications efforts, controlled access, interoperability, and safety personnel are all included in the multiple grants currently open for application.

For example, here in Colorado, the SAFER Grant is available to provide hardware, software, and training for interoperable communications to K-12 schools.

Throughout the country, the Department of Justice has a nation-wide grant, due March 3.
We strongly encourage all interested groups to apply, it is worth the effort to potentially get funding to improve your school(s) and district safety measures. There are also classes you can take in your local communities if you need help in understanding how to effectively write for a grant.

Click the links to learn more.

Colorado
–SAFER Grant

Nationwide
–DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Assistance

Community Partnership

Posted on | by Tori Carter-Tucker

The empowerment of stakeholders working together and improving school safety.

We recently planned and facilitated a tabletop exercise for a rural Colorado school district and their public safety community partners. This exercise reminded us of how important community partners are to school safety. It also reminded us of how community partnerships are based on teamwork, relationships, and a commitment by the various agencies and private sector partners.

Safe Schools Act

For instance, in Colorado, the Safe Schools Act describes safety and security activities and expectations for schools. Within the Act, the concept of school safety “community partners” includes a large number of groups. For example, local fire departments, state and local law enforcement, local 911 agencies, interoperable communications providers, the Safe2Tell program… As well as local emergency medical service personnel, local mental health organizations, local public health agencies, local emergency management personnel, local or regional homeland security personnel, and school resource officers.

As an interoperable communications provider, SchoolSAFE has had to define what the role of a private sector community partner could, or should, be. Simply providing equipment to enable two-way radio interoperable communications did not seem to meet the spirit and intent of the Safe Schools Act. As a result, we’ve expanded our services portfolio to include a number of services. These include training and exercises directly related to school-based emergency communications, school Crisis Management plans and Emergency Operations plans, and school-based emergency exercise planning and facilitation based on the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP).

Two-Way Radios

A part of a long-term attempt to improve school safety in this community has included two-way radio infrastructure, interoperable communications infrastructure and related safety team training, and a complete revision of the District Crisis Management Plan along with an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) specific to each school. This was followed by a 22-month project to deliver a series of exercises. Our best thinking led us to the conclusion that assigning one project manager to this series of projects would enable the SchoolSAFE PM to develop a deep understanding of the schools, the district, and the community. They would be providing the opportunity to establish relationships with leadership and other staff from the district, each school, department, and outside agency. The result is each PM has a deep sense of commitment, responsibility, and ownership for the success of each community’s journey to maximize school safety.

With all that said, the real reasons for these major improvements in school safety can be credited to the commitment of stakeholders. These stakeholders include the school district and its central leadership, the principals and other school leadership staff, the public safety agencies that serve the school community, and the emergency communications Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). Each agency has been actively involved to understand issues, provide input, review plans, and have commitment to an ongoing training and exercise program. While a very good relationship existed between Public Safety and the School district prior to this series of projects mentioned above, the teamwork during the past 27 months has deepened those relationships and continues to improve the capacity of each agency. This will mitigate the effects of a school emergency, respond to incidents when they happen, and to recover from incidents.