Colo. Votes to Bring Interoperable Communications to Schools

April 28, 2011 CS Staff

DENVER, Colo. — On Monday, the Colorado House of Representatives voted unanimously in favor of Senate Bill 11-173, the first bill in the nation to establish that communications interoperability is a necessary part of a school safety, readiness, and incident management plan.

The bill also establishes a partnership between schools and local or regional homeland security personnel.

SB11-173, Interoperable Communications in Schools, was introduced in the Colorado Senate by State Senator Steve King (R-Grand Junction), and carried through the House by a bipartisan team, Rhonda Fields (D-Aurora) and Bob Gardner (R-Colorado Springs).

At every stage of the legislative process, including reviews by both the Senate and House Education Committees, the measure received a unanimous yes vote. Along the way, the bill gathered a total of 56 cosponsors: 26 Senate cosponsors and 30 House cosponsors.

SB11-173 enhances the Colorado School Response Framework, created in 2008, in order to improve the effectiveness of crisis response in schools. According to the Colorado Department of Education, 843,316 students were enrolled in public schools in 2010. This is approximately one-fifth of the population of Colorado.

According to King, lack of interoperable communications has led to crisis response failure time and time again. Examples include Columbine, 9/11, Katrina, and major tragic incidents around the world. Responders were unable to communicate with one another during the crisis. The main reason was that communications devices were unable to talk to one another.

“Current communications systems and practices do not promote direct and instantaneous communication between emergency agencies and schools, and this creates the potential for delays that put health and safety at risk,” King explained to lawmakers.

“Through interoperable communications in schools, those responding to a school incident who have a need to communicate with others can do so when needed within an established communications plan,” King said.

The bill requires collaboration between schools and community partners to develop school safety plans that are in line with statewide and local emergency operation plans. Community partners include fire departments, state and local law enforcement agencies, local 911 agencies, emergency medical service personnel, mental health organizations, public health agencies, emergency management personnel, and local or regional homeland security personnel.

SB11-173 also requires public schools, at least every academic term, to inventory emergency equipment and test communications equipment and its interoperability with community partners.

According to the bill, schools would benefit from coordinated multi-stakeholder efforts to share best practices in emergency communications, identify the emergency communications needs at the school level, help target technical assistance and grant opportunities, and prepare schools and the public safety community for next-generation communications technologies.

The bill draws on resources offered by the Colorado School Safety Resource Center, the Division of Fire Safety within the Colorado Department of Public Safety, and the Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) to help schools include interoperable communications in their school safety plans.

Under the bill, the School Safety Resource Center would incorporate interoperable communications into its training programs that deal with school adoption of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Incident Command System.

The Division of Fire Safety, as part of its regular school fire safety inspections, would review all-hazard drills conducted by a school, the school’s implementation of NIMS, and the school’s ability to communicate directly with state and local first responders during an emergency. OIT would provide expertise, online training, train-the-trainer materials, and other tools to promote interoperable communications in schools.

Although the bill does not require schools to purchase new communications equipment, several potential funding sources for interoperable communications have been identified at school safety conferences hosted this year by Senator King. The sources include Qualified Zone Academy Bonds, 911 Authority Board surcharge revenues, funding programs for new school construction, and grant programs within the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

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