Deadline: February 15, 2010 by Request
SchoolSafe Communications, the leader in emergency communications technology for schools, will underwrite $1,000,000 in costs for a first round of 20 grants to U.S. school districts through the new School Safety Fund established by School Safety Partners.

The Interoperable Communications Pilot Program grants will support partnerships among school districts, local response agencies, and other community resources to make schools safer, and will cover the costs of an advanced communications system, as well as joint school safety planning, training, drills, exercises, and evaluations. The grants are also designed to help schools access additional funding from Federal sources and through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

The School Safety Fund promotes broad adoption by schools of the National Incident Management System (NIMS), the Incident Command System (ICS), and the National Emergency Communications Plan (NECP).

According to School Safety Partners, these sets of guidelines offer the best platform for schools to address all hazards, including active shooter, animal threat, blast, bomb threat, bus accident, chemical spill, earthquake, fire, flood, food contamination, gas odor, intruder, lightning, non-custodial parent, pandemic outbreak, power outage, tornado, violent student, and winter storm.

School Safety Partners expects to announce 20 grants on February 26, 2010, and will match the grants with contributions from other public, private, and academic sponsors. In addition, awardees will receive independent consulting services in 2010 and 2011 to pursue additional funding from Federal agencies.

Below you will find the complete online grant application form, along with instructions. Your proposal must be concise. Your text in key sections is limited to 1,000 characters, or about 120 words.

If you requested an extension prior to January 15, 2010, you may apply now for this grant. Applications must be filed online no later than Monday, February 15, 2010.

School District, School, or Organization

Community Served

Briefly describe the proposed pilot site, the students and faculty, the community, the surrounding terrain, and one high-priority school safety concern specific to the site.

Benefits of Interoperable Communications

Under a new enhanced 911 system developed by SchoolSafe Communications, schools can call 911 and be immediately connected with first responders through the schools' two-way radios. The radios allow school staff to communicate and work directly with police and other first responders during a crisis.

School safety teams can more effectively participate in the areas of situation size-up and threat assessment, alert and notification, search and rescue, first aid, evacuation/shelter/care, facilities and security response, crisis intervention, student release, continuity of education, and school building reoccupation.

The purpose of the Interoperable Communications Pilot Program with host schools or school districts and participating observers is to help create a roadmap for district-wide and statewide radio interoperability for school safety.

Awardees will receive a complete advanced communications system, installed and configured for the schools and their community partners. The pilot programs will then go beyond the technology and focus on usability and the "human interoperability" among school staff and among community responders.

Participants will practice specific ways to team up with professional responders when their school radios are bridged with the more advanced public safety radios. They will learn how to listen, what to say, how to say it, when to say it, and when to stop. Radio dialogue scripts provided with a phrasebook will demonstrate how to improve threat detection and evaluation, and how to coordinate a faster and safer response.

The primary advantages of radio interoperability will be tested: coordinated information gathering, information sharing, incident management, and incident documentation.

In addition, special emphasis will be given to understanding and developing another potential advantage: radio's dual role in providing an "invisible blanket of safety" that supports an open and nurturing learning environment, while also enhancing the visible security measures where desired, in order to act as a deterrent.

To read more about how the system works, see the following article: Colorado Schools Use 9-1-1 Call to Activate Incident Command System

Incident Management Team

Use the table below to provide a current snapshot of your Incident Management Team. The positions listed are the key roles used in the Incident Command System. For a brief overview of these roles, download the Emergency Management Institute's outline of ICS Responsibilities.

Please note that this snapshot helps us evaluate your objectives, which you will explain in a later section. We give greatest weight to your level of commitment to achieve measurable progress.

NIMS Implementation (Part 1)
Adoption - Command and Management

In this 3-part table, indicate the status of your implementation of 15 essential NIMS activities. Check "In Progress" for any of the activities your school or district has started. Check "Request Help" if you wish to work on an activity as part of your proposed Interoperable Communications Pilot Program.

For a thorough discussion of each of the 15 activities as prescribed by the U.S. Department of Education, please see our section, NIMS Implementation, at School Safety Partners.

NIMS Implementation (Part 2)
Preparedness: Planning - Training - Exercises

NIMS Implementation (Part 3)
Resource Management - Communication and Information Management

Objectives

Describe how you might incorporate interoperable communications into one or more NIMS implementation activities listed above. Indicate how you would make interoperable communications particularly relevant to the pilot school site through a drill, tabletop exercise, functional exercise, or full-scale exercise.

For a sample drill procedure, download the 2-page guide to the Colorado Safe School Act Communications Review and Drill, developed by School Safety Partners.

Resources

List any first responders and local response agencies who may be available for joint planning, training, drills, exercises, and evaluations with your school or district. Also list potential evaluators and community partners you would invite to observe your Incident Management Team in action using interoperable communications.

For an example of a showcase event, read this account of a recent Communications Workshop.

Also see this joint press release from the local Sheriff and the Superintendent.

Timeframe

Indicate a window of time available for communications system installation, hands-on team training, a drill or exercise, and evaluations. Generally, these core activities will be completed within a timeframe of 4-12 weeks. Indicate earliest start date and latest end date.

Applicant Contact Information

The School Safety Fund is a program of School Safety Partners, a community of interest dedicated to long-term funding solutions for school safety best practices. Grant applications will be reviewed by noted school safety experts as well as administrators familiar with the interoperable communications technology. The final selection of awardees will be made by SchoolSafe Communications. A rationale for the final selection will be provided at the time the awardees are announced. Feel free to call us at (303) 548-3816 if you have any questions at any stage of the grant process.

Clicking on the "Finish" button will submit your application online and you will be taken to the main School Safety Partners website. Thank you for your interest in our grant programs. We look forward to working with you soon.