Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mount Vernon board hears plan to improve campus communications, license-plate readers and visitor management
Summary
District staff told the board they will form a working group and implement a push-to-talk app (TangoTango) for campus communications, continue use of Flock license-plate readers and consider Raptor visitor-management and camera-based weapons detection. Superintendent/staff also said the district’s emergency plan now states staff do not carry guns.
District staff described a set of changes and purchases intended to improve communication and situational awareness across school campuses.
The presentation said a working group made up of school leadership, first responders and partner institutions on campus—such as the career center and MBNU—will use TangoTango, a push-to-talk phone app used by first responders, to allow faster cross-campus communication.
"Since it's already here in the county, we need to use it for free," the presenter said, describing plans to create leadership and principal groups within the app.
Staff also reviewed technology the district is already using or testing: Flock license-plate readers (four cameras on campus, 21 in the city) for vehicle alerts, gunshot-detection sensors installed on poles, and integration with Raptor visitor-management software that can add camera-based weapons detection as an add-on.
The presenter described typical uses: adding license plates to a hot list to receive campus entry alerts for persons of interest; using alerts to coordinate with Mount Vernon Police Department; and using plate readers to track vehicles suspected of illegal dumping.
On policy, staff said they have added explicit firearms language to the district emergency operations plans (EOPS). "That is now in our EOPS, which, basically just stating that we do not carry firearms at Mount Vernon City School District. Staff do not," the presenter said in the meeting.
At the same time, the presenter said the district is considering nonlethal options such as pepper spray and wearable panic-button technologies associated with Alyssa's Law. The presenter described the wearable panic button as a possible supplement to existing lockdown systems and said bus drivers and staff in nontraditional areas could use such devices.
Board members asked clarifying questions about interoperability with campus partners and first responders; staff said they tested communication breakdowns following an incident at the career center, which helped prompt the working group.
Ending: Staff introduced the working group and technology options for board awareness; the board did not take immediate formal action on purchasing new systems during the meeting.
