Board approves emergency management system and network redundancy upgrades

The Yucaipa‑Calimesa Joint Unified School District Board of Education on Oct. 8 unanimously approved two technology purchases aimed at strengthening school safety and reducing network downtime.

The board approved acquisition of a Raptor emergency management system that will integrate with the district’s existing visitor‑management system, add panic‑button capabilities on mobile and desktop devices, provide silent notifications to law enforcement, and offer a reunification tool to track student pickups during emergencies. The purchase was presented during discussion item 8.04; board members asked how the system would coordinate with the sheriff’s department and how drills and training would be certified.

A district presenter said the Raptor system aligns with the district’s previously adopted standard response protocol icons and will include a drill‑management module to track fire, earthquake and lockdown drills and remind site administrators when drills are overdue. The presenter said a reunification feature can notify parents when a child is picked up during an emergency, reducing the need for families to travel to campus during incidents.

The board also approved purchase of high‑availability Cisco 9500 core routers and a cold‑copy backup device after staff described recent outages caused by a power event and a defective router. Staff recounted an RMA process that brought a replacement online and said the proposed redundancy would permit failover in roughly 90 minutes to two hours, restoring connectivity for instructional and administrative systems. The district’s network specialist was referenced during the presentation and explained that outages impede attendance reporting, access to Google Classroom and internal communications.

Board members and staff framed the purchases as risk‑management decisions intended to reduce instructional disruption and to strengthen emergency communications at school sites. Both motions carried on unanimous voice votes.

The meeting also included routine approvals: kitchen equipment purchases, training for child nutrition staff, contract amendments, policy reviews and adoption of resolutions. Two actions taken in closed session were read into the record: authorizations for legal counsel to settle existing litigation against the district (case numbers read aloud by the board). Those closed‑session settlements were reported to the public at the meeting’s opening.

The board recognized student and staff achievements earlier in the meeting and heard public comments from community members praising teacher efforts during recent fire‑related closures.