A popular session in the Emergency Preparedness, Response & Situational Awareness series covered the timely topic of keeping schools safe. “A New Way to Keep Kids Safe,” led by Patrick Hobby and Randy Long of SchoolSAFE Communications, outlined examples of how emergency communicators and responders can educate school leaders such as administrators and teachers how to react in a crisis situation.

Long, who worked in the response teams during the Columbine and Bailey emergencies, gave an overview of the incidents on K-12 campuses and how Colorado has created the Colorado School Safety Act to prepare state schools for emergency situations.

“On any given day, over 20 percent of the U.S. population can be found at a K-12 campus,” Long said.

“The Colorado School Safety Act led to the formation of safety teams the adoption of and training for key staff in NIMS/ICS, the implementation of all-hazards based exercises including community partners and a focus on interoperable communications.”

Long discussed the challenges with working with K-12 schools, listing the volume of expected 911 calls, quality of information and variable reliability of landline and cellular networks as obstacles safety communicators experience during crisis situations.

“We have to train teachers and school administrators in how effectively communicate with a 9-1-1 dispatcher,” he said.

“We forget about how emotional it can be to make a 9-1-1 call.”

Hobby emphasized the importance of true interoperability for successful efforts to keep schools safe, which requires the role of “champions.”

“We recommend someone preferably from the dispatch team to set up communications with school districts and develop a relationship with schools to teach them how to make 9-1-1 call and explain the rules,” he said.

Additionally, Hobby said partnerships, technical solutions, initial and ongoing training and sustainability help achieve true inoperability, pointing to the example of the Pueblo District 70, a medium-sized district with 20 schools that has standardized the use of radio and now understands its value.

“My wife is a teacher and she’s not an expert on radio, but she has the means to access the radio experts,” Hobby said.

“Schools are very flexible; they want to be told what to do.”