physically check that everything is working as it should be and send back a check-all E-mail. The technology staff is critical to keeping communication lines open. If the network goes down, the district has no access to staff or student information, no email and the 1,600 security cameras district-wide will go offline, essentially rendered useless. The Aurora schools would become isolated from the outside world. IT certainly plays an essential role in emergency response, although not an immediately obvious one for some. In Clagg’s experience, getting IT to embrace that role sometimes takes a little prodding.
“They need to understand that they have to drop what they’re doing and be ready to react to a crisis, and that’s a little hard for our team sometimes because they’re so customer focused,” says Clagg. “We’ve had to work that into our culture, that we’re first responders too.”
District Deploys Diverse Technology
Once in the emergency operations center, the IRT has a number of technologies at its disposal. The room has a Promethean whiteboard that can be used to display maps of the school as well as staff or student information. A large screen monitor is used to display Microsoft OneNote where a scribe keeps a running incident log. There are also Web cameras that can be used with Adobe Connect Pro to broadcast live. A Polycom conference phone allows for conference calls between district leaders and local authorities and a geographical information system provides maps of the district and the affected areas. If cell phone service is down, the district has a number of handsets that can be passed out.
Protocols Cover Access Control, Visitors and More
In addition to installing MNEC technology, organizations should also create and adhere to basic safety protocols. Locking doors and handing out visitors badges may seem simple, but it can be lifesaving. Referring to the 2008, Virginia Tech shooting, Clagg explains the gunman bypassed locked classrooms even when he could see people inside. That one barrier was enough to deter the shooter. This is one reason the Aurora schools have a locked door policy.
“All exterior doors at all school levels are locked. You cannot get into a building without someone buzzing you in. No employee is allowed to enter another door without first signing in at the front door,” says Clagg. “If I catch any of my staff going in through the side door, that’s part of their performance rating.” All internal classroom doors are locked as well so in the event of a lockdown no one is scrambling to shut and lock the door. Teachers can simply close it and gather students together in the farthest corner of the room.
Related Article: 11 Components of a Secure School Front Entrance.
Training plays a large role in disaster preparedness as well. The district does two annual mass trainings involving the school principals and the IRT. All training is provided and funded by the district whose security director is a former police officer. In addition to lockdown training and incident response, Clagg has also attended sessions on shooter profiles and when to call for an assessment for a student in trouble.
“Here’s our vision: provide environments that are physically and emotionally safe for students, for peer work and for learning,” says Clagg. “Everything, really, is behind that. Everything we do is to make sure that happens.”
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