School 911

PILOT PROGRAM: INTEROPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS FOR SCHOOL SAFETY 

School Safety Partners is working with school districts in Colorado to develop a pilot program to improve interoperable communications skills during incident command. Specifically, we wish to significantly improve performance of lifesaving procedures (i.e., evacuation, reverse evacuation, lockdown, shelter-in-place, and drop-cover-and-hold) through skillful use of seamless interoperable two-way radio crisis communications.

INVITATION

We invite your participation in any or all of the program components: reviewing our current materials, developing a functional exercise testing and using communications equipment, designing an observer component for other school districts, designing a custom exercise evaluation guide for the event, participating in the functional exercise itself as well as the exercise evaluation, and reviewing our findings and recommendations for a final report.

BACKGROUND

As reported on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) website, Colorado schools have a new tool to use in emergencies. The schools have adopted a system that allows schools to place a 911 call to activate a radio communications network that links school staff with professional responders arriving at the scene. Traditionally, schools facing an emergency have called 911 and waited for first responders to arrive. Under the new enhanced 911 system, schools can call 911 and be immediately connected with first responders through the schools' two-way radios. The radios allow school staff to communicate and work directly with police and other first responders during a crisis. The system will be used in accordance with procedures established by the National Incident Management System.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (2009)
Colorado Schools Use 9-1-1 Call to Activate Incident Command System
http://www.it.ojp.gov/default.aspx?area=&page=1256

CURRENT MATERIALS

For the proposed pilot program, we will use the same enabling technology that is used in the system described by DOJ above, developed by a Colorado company, SchoolSAFE Communications. The company has agreed to underwrite the cost of the technology needed for the pilot program, which includes custom configuration of a communications bridge between the pilot school and multiple community responder agencies.  

Additional materials include:

1. selected portions of EMI Independent Study materials that would be most relevant to the pilot program (for example, portions of IS-362: Multi-Hazard Emergency Planning for Schools; IS-100.SCa: Introduction to the Incident Command System for Schools; IS-242: Effective Communication; IS-702: NIMS Public Information Systems; and IS-802: Emergency Support Function - Communications);
   
   
2. a phrasebook of sample useful phrases that school staff can use during two-way radio crisis response (currently in development by School Safety Partners in cooperation with experts in the field) covering the 5 lifesaving procedures listed above and 18 different incident-specific plans;
   
   
3. a preliminary outline of a compact 3-stage pilot program centered around 2 orientation meetings that incorporate custom training sessions and school walkthroughs, and a one-day functional exercise followed by a group evaluation session;
   
   
4. a preliminary survey form developed by Dr. Bruce Frey, University of Kansas, for "Safe Schools, Healthy Students," to evaluate levels of collaboration among school safety partners (this form will be expanded in cooperation with Dr. Frey to become an on-site tool for the pilot program observers);
   
   
5. a preliminary exercise evaluation guide that focuses on crisis communications, adapted from materials provided by the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program; and
   
   
6. sample Lessons Learned and Best Practice memos, and Practice Notes, for use as models in submitting our findings to "Lessons Learned Information Sharing"  (LLIS.gov), the DHS/FEMA national online network of innovative ideas for the emergency response and homeland security communities.

SUMMARY

In announcing Colorado's new law (SB08-181) spelling out a School Response Framework, international school safety expert Michael Dorn made the following comments in Campus Safety Magazine about interoperable communications:

"In a number of emergencies, school and public safety officials have reported difficulty in resolving a crisis due to their inability to talk to one another via radio systems. A significant part of the support initiative for SB08-181 involves educating schools and community partners regarding new concepts and technologies making interoperable communications more feasible for schools."

The purpose of the proposed pilot program with host school districts in Colorado and the participating observer school districts is to help create a roadmap for district-wide and statewide radio interoperability for school safety.

In this area, the states of Colorado and Idaho have been early adopters, with about 50 schools in Colorado already installing the SchoolSAFE technology, and the Idaho State Department of Education recommending the same radio infrastructure solution for all Idaho schools.

However, the pilot program will go beyond the technology and focus on usability and the "human interoperability" among school staff and among community responders. Participants will practice specific ways to team up with professional responders when their school radios are bridged with advanced public safety radios. They will learn how to listen, what to say, how to say it, when to say it, and when to stop. Radio dialogue scripts provided in the phrasebook will demonstrate how to improve threat detection and evaluation, and how to coordinate a faster and safer response.

The primary advantages of radio interoperability will be tested: coordinated information gathering, information sharing, incident management, and incident documentation.

In addition, special emphasis will be given to understanding and developing another potential advantage: radio's dual role in providing an "invisible blanket of safety" that supports an open and nurturing learning environment where students don't feel lorded over by excessive security technology, while also enhancing the visible security measures where desired, in order to act as a deterrent.

NIMS COMPLIANCE

This pilot program follows NIMS implementation guidance in "NIMS Implementation Activities for Schools and Higher Education Institutions," developed by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

In particular, the proposed program serves as a model for "Activity 6" as described in the guide: developing and implementing a system to coordinate and leverage Federal and other preparedness funding to implement NIMS. It shows how schools can combine private sector and public sector resources "for developing interoperability training with their local and regional multi-disciplinary partners."

In so doing, participants are establishing relationships and points of contact with local emergency management agencies and authorities such as law enforcement, identifying mutual opportunities with community partners to identify and leverage preparedness funding and training opportunities, discussing opportunities for coordination of support with related professional organizations and affiliates, and developing processes with partners that include informing State officials responsible for coordination of preparedness funding.

PILOT PROGRAM PHASES

Phase I - Preparation

A.     School Orientation Meeting

1. Selection of school safety team
2. School Walkthrough
3. Knowledge Check: Incident Command System for Schools
4. Presentation: Two-Way Radio Voice Procedure
5. Presentation: Basic Radio Discipline

B.     School Tabletop Exercise

1. 911 Call Procedure
2. Incident Response Communications (hands-on)

C.     Lessons Learned

1. Process and Exercising
2. Equipment Adjustments

Phase II - Installation

A.     Stakeholders Orientation Meeting

1. Meet agency contacts
2. School Walkthrough
3. Knowledge Check: Proper Radio Procedure for Schools
4. Presentation: ICS and Interoperable Communications
5. Presentation: Introducing the Emergency Communications System for Schools
6. Outcome: Memorandum of Understanding -- Interoperable Communications

Phase III - Demonstration

A.     Community Tabletop/Functional Exercise

1. Participants: Partners, Stakeholders, Observers
2. 911 Call Simulations
3. Radio Communications Logistics Drills
4. Exercise Scenarios: Incident Response and Interoperable Communications

B.     Community Exercise Evaluation

1. Activities observed, task completion
2. Strengths, areas requiring improvement
3. Capability Outcome
4. Roadmap for district-wide system implementation 

CONTACT

John Simmons, School Safety Partners
johnsimmons@schoolsafetypartners.org or 303-548-3816