District applies for safety grant
System would provide site plans of schools for first responders

August 24, 2005
By Diane Knich
The Island Packet

If a violent or emergency situation breaks out in one of Beaufort County's schools, having fast and easy access to information about the layout of the building could speed up the time it takes to get things under control, district officials say.

To set up a secure system to provide that information to law enforcement officers and other first responders, the Beaufort County School District has applied for a $390,000 Emergency Response and Crisis Management grant from the U.S. Department of Education, said district spokesman Tom Hudson.

If the system is put in place, first responders, through the Internet or compact discs, would have access to digital site plans of the district's 28 schools and four of its administrative buildings, as well as floor plans and photographs of the roofs and entryways, Hudson said. The system also would include information about the buildings' electrical wiring, plumbing and any hazardous materials, such as those found in chemistry labs, stored inside.

Hudson said the district isn't responding to any particular threat or incident but is simply trying to make sure students remain safe as the district grows.

A Seattle company, Prepared Response, would develop the system and train district officials and local first responders on how to use and update it. The company has experience developing such systems, said Amy Wells, the company's account manager.

It was awarded a contract from the state of Washington to map information for the state's 462 high schools, she said. And it will begin developing systems for middle and elementary schools as soon as the state approves the funding.

The systems the company has developed already have been used, said company spokesman Gary Sabol.

In 2003, at Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane, Wash., a student armed with a gun barricaded himself in a third-floor corner classroom, Sabol said. Other students had been evacuated to a spot outside the front of the school. But using the system the school had in place, police officers could see that some students could be in the gunman's line of fire. Drivers on a highway alongside the school also could have been in danger. So students were moved and traffic was temporarily diverted on the highway.

John Williams, the district's assistant superintendent for information and operations, said if the district isn't awarded the grant, it probably wouldn't be able to purchase the system.

Wells said that the U.S. Department of Education would award about 125 grants to school districts nationwide and about 300 districts have applied. The district should find out by the end of September if it has been selected for a grant.

Lt. Steve Mendoza of the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office attended an informational meeting about the system before the district submitted the grant application on Aug. 1. Representatives from Beaufort County Emergency Management Services and the Hilton Head Fire and Rescue Division also attended the session.

Mendoza said that "if the system has all the components that law enforcement needs, it would benefit us." But, he said, "all the nuts and bolts haven't been worked out yet."

Randy Osterman, Deputy Chief of the Hilton Head Fire and Rescue Division, who also attended the meeting, said, "any information we have prior to an incident will help us if there are problems in schools."

The division, he said, would help the district and Prepared Response build the system.

Hudson said that for the system to work, it has to be a cooperative effort between the district and first responders. But, he said, if everyone works together "with a few mouse clicks, first responders could get all the information they need to respond."