Keeping Kids Safe At School

Pueblo parents know that when an emergency occurs at their child's school, no time will be wasted.

Technology is a wonderful thing, especially when it comes to communication. Two people who've never met can talk to one another from half a world away, with just a few keystrokes and mouse clicks on a computer. But, technology can have its drawbacks. Recently, many law enforcement and emergency responders have switched to a new radio technology. The radios use the 800 MHz frequency. Because the new radios cost thousands of dollars, many school districts are unable to purchase the large number of radios they would need to supply each of their schools. Instead, school districts like Pueblo District 70 use two way radios to communicate within the school itself. These two way radios, often called walkie-talkies, have a short range and normally cannot receive or transmit information on the 800 frequency. That is until now.

SchoolSAFE makes it possible to convert the UHF broadcasts into a digital message that can be heard on 800 MHz radios. A SchoolSAFE system is being installed in every single District 70 school. They are the first district in the world to do so. Now, when an emergency occurs, an on-duty administrator can call 911 and tell them they have a problem. The 911 operator will activate the SchoolSAFE system. Administrators will then be able to speak directly to first responders as they head to the school. They will be able to provide necessary detail to the people who need the information most, and will be able to do it quickly. "As a building principal this just gives me a bit of a comfort zone, knowing that I'm going to have that immediate response," says Pueblo West High School Principal, Martha Nogare.

The best part is everyone is connected, so the administrator will no longer have to call a laundry list of school officials after finishing with the initial 911 call. Every party that needs to be "in-the-loop" will receive the information at the same time. Once the crisis has been resolved, the 911 operator or the school district can turn off the SchoolSAFE program.

Under the previous system, Pueblo West High School waited, at times, up to 15 minutes for first responders to arrive. "15 minutes is a long time, alot can happen in 15 minutes," says Steve Sneed, father of a freshman at Pueblo West High School. With SchoolSAFE, administrators are hoping to see that response drop to 3-4 minutes. "Makes me feel a lot better, like I said, 3-4 minutes to 15 minutes that's a lot of time, a lot of things can hopefully be averted with that better response time," says Sneed.

It cost $630 thousand to outfit all 20 schools in Pueblo School District 70 with SchoolSAFE. The district paid $50 thousand while the rest was funded by the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, DHS's Public Safety Interoperability Communications Grant Program, and the Pueblo County 9-1-1 Authority Board.