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9-1-1 community partnerships improve school safety
9-1-1 in the Classroom, Classroom | Caitlin | September 2, 2011 at 2:47 pm
DENVER, CO — School safety experts and public safety innovators joined forces yesterday at the 2011 Colorado 9-1-1 Issues Summit to promote community partnering and communications interoperability between school districts and 9-1-1 services.
Panelists Chris Olson, Mike Coleman, Kathy Morris, Todd Skoglund, and Jeff Miller led a state-level school safety orientation meeting with 9-1-1 professionals and authority board members from across Colorado at the Jefferson County Administration and Courts Building in Golden, Colorado.
Moderator John Simmons announced that the speakers are making themselves available to help districts implement Colorado Senate Bill 11-173, Interoperable Communications in Schools. The measure was introduced by Senator Steve King and signed into law this summer by Governor John Hickenlooper. According to the panel, schools must reach out to local 9-1-1 agencies and include them in their safety plans, training, drills, exercises, and evaluations.
New communications technologies allow schools to more closely work with 9-1-1 to manage chaos during a school emergency. In discussing pilot programs underwritten by SchoolSAFE Communications, the panelists pointed to improved situation size-up, more effective 9-1-1 calls, and better coordination between schools and response agencies before and after the arrival of first responders.
At the governor’s signing of SB11-173, Douglas County officials announced that their E911 Authority is providing $1.1 million in new funding to implement interoperable communications in 67 school facilities in the county.
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