Ridgefield Public Schools

Overview

Location: Ridgefield, CT
Campus Type: Suburban
Enrollment: 5,200
Faculty: 750
Campus Size: 500 acres
Number of Buildings: 11

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, CT, Ridgefield Public Schools began evaluating its emergency notification system. The system would need to quickly alert staff and students of an emergency while notifying police and central administration of the event. Finally, the system would need to be easily expandable to allow for easy future integration. Craig Tunks, Director of Technology and Operations Development at Ridgefield Public Schools, discusses the school system’s unique challenges and solutions.

Challenge

We started with a security evaluation in the school district after the events in Newtown, CT. That identified the need to notify students and staff of emergencies within the building quickly and efficiently, as well as notify the police and the central administration.

Our ultimate goal was to improve communication with staff and students and establish future growth for the Ridgefield Public Schools district as we connect additional interfaces to the Alertus System. After evaluating several systems, we liked the modular base of it and its interoperability with other systems.

Solution

We have Alert Beacon® and panic buttons installed at strategic locations throughout the school. Sites for those devices were selected by where we knew the staff would be present. Our Alert Beacons are tied into our PA system to make overhead announcements. The system is also integrated into our computer network for on-screen computer announcements.

The Alertus System is connected to our police department and notifies them automatically through Alertus Desktop™ Notifications. They also recently requested that we install an Alert Beacon® in dispatch so the system can communicate via the Alert Beacon.

Currently, we only use the System for lockdown situations. However, we conduct drills at a minimum of every other month. We have a scenario built into the Alertus System identified as a drill announcement. We use the Alertus Activator App to launch the drill, which triggers the Beacons, computers, and overhead announcements and notifies the police. During the drill procedure, when the training starts, teachers follow their appropriate protocol, and the school follows its protocol. They do an entire drill, practice procedures, and test the system for functionality.