Program to map safety at schools

December 10, 2005
By Miriam Haskell
The Fayetteville Observer

A computer-based security system will help officers respond to emergencies.

Cumberland County schools will develop a computer-based security plan to help law enforcement respond to situations such as fires, bomb scares and school shootings.

The digital mapping system will be the first for a school system in the state, Superintendent Bill Harrison said.

Cumberland County schools received a $733,558 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop the mapping program. Seattle-based Prepared Response Inc., will build the system.

“Our mission clearly states we will provide a safe, caring environment for all our children,” Harrison said. “If kids aren’t safe, if they’re not secure, if they’re not comfortable, if they’re not cared for, they certainly aren’t going to learn.”

The program’s main feature is a database of information that emergency responders normally have to gather from different sources. That includes locations for roadblocks, triage stations and helicopter landings as well as blueprints, potential sniper points and places for parents and media to gather.

Jimmy Black, safety and security supervisor for Cumberland County schools, said those tools are precautionary.

“We’re preparing for the worst. I hope we never have to use it,” he said.

Black said that as a parent, his greatest fear is to hear of a shooting or other serious incident at a school. People began to realize the gravity of that possibility after the Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colo., in 1999, Black said.

Access to the database will be limited to school administrators and relevant agencies, such as the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department, Fayetteville Police and the Health Department, Black said.

The program should be running next November. School officials and law enforcement personnel will be consulted during the development of the database.

The grant for the project is one of the largest the school system has received, said Paula Shambach, grants development coordinator for the school system. U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge presented the school system with the $733,558 check during a ceremony Friday at the administration building.