NEBRASKA CITY – School and emergency services leaders said new digital trunked radios are an important tool for school safety at Wednesday’s Nebraska City Rotary Club meeting.

They allow staff inside of schools across the city to communicate with each other and reach out to emergency responders.

High School Principal Brian Hoover said schools still hold fire drills and plan for traditional threats, but now have additional precautions such as magnetic doors, security cameras and school resource officers.

Hoover: “Our lock out drills. This will be the event that we have something happen in the community and we can not release kids.”

Signs are posted on entrances saying people can not come in or out of the school buildings.

Hoover: “Lock down drill, which is probably the one that most people are most concerned about would be in the event that there is some type of internal threat, something inside the building could possibly cause harm or damage to the personnel within the building.”

Hoover said the discipline of debate is a part of the solution for school safety.

Hoover: “I know it sounds crazy, but when you talk to the people in the districts, such as Columbine or down in Florida, who most recently went through this, they are implementing debate programs at the elementary level to teach kids how to share opinions and still disagree with somebody else.”

 

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He said this type of program helps prepare students in the mental health issues beginning in kindergarten.

Police Chief Dave Lacy said the schools can access police frequencies to learn about potentially dangerous events happening in the community and to inform police about threats inside of buildings.

Lacy: “I want to reiterate, I know you guys have heard it before, we do not have a school violence issue, we have a mental health and a gun violence issue in this country.”

Paramedic Manager Andrew Snodgrass said timely information to the public can  lower the number of calls to the 911 dispatcher and reduce stress on parents.

Snodgrass: “Our jobs collectively are to get the job the done. We’re going to try to get everything done as safe as possible and get everybody as safe as they can and do everything we can and having the trust of the community and us to do that job will let us do it faster verses being bothered or having to deal with other parts that are not necessary – parents trying to enter buildings when they don’t need to.”

Firefighter Steve Recker noted that during a recent school lock down emergency responders in the building had no way of contacting agencies outside of the building except by walking across the street to talk with them. He said the new radios could greatly enhance the safety of everyone involved.

The new mobile radios were available when students returned to classes this year at public and private schools through a grant provided by the Wirth Foundation.