At a recent meeting, Cochise County School Superintendent Dr. Jacqui Clay outlines a $1.5 million School Safety Pilot Program Grant designed to make schools safer with a multi-layered security grid to local law enforcement.
At a recent meeting, Cochise County School Superintendent Dr. Jacqui Clay outlines a $1.5 million School Safety Pilot Program Grant designed to make schools safer with a multi-layered security grid to local law enforcement.
SIERRA VISTA — Parents worried about their children’s safety at school — 46 shootings in schools across the country resulted in deaths or injuries this year — can now breathe a little easier.
Schools throughout Cochise County will be a lot safer with top-notch security protection technology that will give law enforcement a leg up in preventing the unthinkable from happening.
Thanks to a $1.5 million School Safety Pilot Program Grant through the Arizona Department of Education, the Cochise County School Superintendent’s Office will partner with the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office to provide a rapid-crisis response system to keep both children and teachers safer from potential shootings and random threats.
Through an advanced, high-tech security network, the grant will provide a full spectrum of safety measures from threat detection to floor plan imaging plus an on-demand emergency grid connecting participating schools to local law enforcement.
The safety programs — which are multi-layered, end-to-end technology platforms related to lockdown and shooter situations — are expected to roll out after Jan. 1 when a school safety software provider is selected.
The competitive, three-year grant established by the Arizona Department of Education, which received $20 million in school safety funding from federal COVID-19 recovery funds, drew more than $100 million in applications from schools throughout Arizona for school safety funding from the Legislature.
“It’s about giving law enforcement the best information possible,” Cynthia Myers, outreach coordinator with the school superintendent’s office overseeing the project, told the Herald/Review last month about the program. “We want kids to be safe with this program.”
The safety network is designed to keep Cochise County schools protected with proven technology that offers live viewing during potential incidents.
The grant — which will be administered by the Cochise Educational Service Agency County Mental Health Consortium — will provide law enforcement with:
Identifying users’ identity, location and operational status during an incident.
Securing text messaging and file sharing to all users involved in an incident.
Securing sharing of collaborative maps, building floor plans and images between schools and public safety agencies.
Integrating manually activated panic alarm systems that, when activated, establish direct collaboration between schools and public safety agencies.
Using multiple forms of real-time communications and information collaboration, including voice and full-motion video sharing, during an incident.
“It will also make it easier for law enforcement — its tracking platform can show where kids are in a school at any given moment, what room they’re in, parents’ contact information, medications they’re taking — during a lockdown or a shooter situation,” said Myers.
“This technology connects all the dots for school security and safety.”
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