Tag: communications

Community Partnering

Posted on | by SchoolSAFE

The SchoolSAFE program enables a two-way radio connection between first responders and school officials during an emergency. The comprehensive training program partners with schools to provide user-specific training in emergency communications management, empowering community partnering with first responders.

The program is also Colorado’s SAFER Grant compliant, providing hardware, software, and training to each school district. The SAFER Grant provides true radio interoperability for first responders and school districts, funding the state-wide initiative. Over 500 installations have been completed throughout the state and we are constantly training best practices at all of our schools and districts. We strongly encourage each school’s leadership to reach out to the local fire station, for each district to get in a room with first responders – this is community partnering.

For example, we had one school place numbers on the top of each exterior door to help the fire department know where to go in an emergency. The Battalion Chief pointed out that the numbers would be better placed at the bottom of the doors in the event of heavy smoke. The Police Chief was also interested in the door numbering system for their knowledge and ability to respond. Because of one meeting, safety protocols and a general understanding was improved for all parties involved in an emergency. We all want our schools to be safer, with each stakeholder working to have the best response. A great place to start is getting these key stakeholders in the room together.

Community partnering at its finest.


Do you need assistance in getting the ball rolling? Contact us and we can help get you started.

911 Dispatcher

School Personnel Call 911: What to Expect

Posted on | by Tori Carter-Tucker

What Schools Should Expect When Calling 911: A Dispatcher’s Perspective*

What to Expect:

School personnel call 911 for an emergency, but what should they expect? The dispatcher will need immediate information from the caller. The dispatcher enters information into a CAD system (Computer Aided Dispatch) and then dispatches to the appropriate responders. Wherever they may be calling from, the information needed is the same nationally. What’s the most important data to provide to a dispatcher when school personnel call 911? Location, Location, Location. If nothing else, a 911 communications center can send help to a specific location. Typically, the dispatcher will ask for the general location and then an exact location. The dispatcher will ask for a name and a phone number in the event of a disconnection. Next, the dispatcher will ask exactly what is happening. It is best practice to have a reporting party stay on the phone and answer necessary questions that are pertinent to the responders arriving to the school or nearby location. 

When to Call:

When it is in discussion that emergency services will respond to the school, whether inside the school or on school grounds, that is the time a 9-1-1 call should be made. We have had hundreds of trainings where public safety personnel reaffirm they prefer to respond to a false alarm than not be called at all.

Important Points to Remember:

Again: location, location, location. Depending on jurisdiction, meeting policies, and procedures specific to protocols, getting the location will be first and foremost and then the dispatcher will need to know the exact location. While each jurisdiction may ask in a different order, I believe it is necessary for the responders to know exactly where the incident is occurring. Along with the location and exact location is the caller information.  Name, phone number and reporting party location if different from exact location. Then the chief complaint or exactly what is occurring. 

911 Call Example:

School to Communications Center

Communications Center – 9-1-1 What is the location of Your Emergency?

School Response – Lincoln High school

CC – What is the address of the high school

CC Note: Even though the Comm Center may have the address, it’s good for the reporting party to verbally provide the address. The dispatcher may ask the caller to verify the address to confirm that what they have is correct.

School Response – 1234 Main St.

CC Note: You don’t have to provide City and State, however if the Comm Center dispatches for multiple City and County jurisdictions, the Comm Center may ask for the City or County. The Comm Center will dispatch resources once they have a verified location in their CAD system.

CC – Tell me exactly what happened?  

School Response – We have a student who has been hit by a car in the main parking lot.

Comm Center Note: Dispatch will update responders with exactly what is happening.

CC – The Comm Center then asks questions: how it happened, description of vehicle, and an update on student who was hit.  

CC Note: Take a deep breath and remember to speak calmly and clearly.

Additional Notes:

They may EMD the call if necessary. If the caller is in a safe location and can stay on the phone, the dispatcher will continue to get pertinent information and update responders until on scene. The school should try to have someone who can meet the responders to direct them where to go. If the SchoolSAFE connection is activate, this allows responders to talk directly with the school’s Incident Commander via radio, saving time and clarity. 

The Incident Commander is a chosen person who communicates with responders over the connection. This keeps multiple people trying to provide information to the responders. This may cause confusion and can tie up the radio with unnecessary chatter. Remember, the 911 call comes first, then the dispatcher determines whether or not to connect the responders to the Incident Commander.

The school safety team can help get more information to the Incident Commander, improving the communication flow. While the Incident Commander is talking to the responders on the radio, the 911 call can still be active. Or, the dispatcher may determine the situation is in good hands and hang up. The initial 911 call requiring outside resources, with good information about the incident, will have an effective and efficient communications dialog with an outcome that is suitable for all involved.

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*Cindi Dieck is a Public Safety Liaison with SchoolSAFE after spending 25 years with Public Safety. The last 10 years of her career was spent as a Communications Manager as well as an Adjunct Instructor in Colorado teaching Emergency Dispatch. She has been married to an LEO (Law Enforcement Officer) for 22 years and they have 5 cool dogs*

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.