County Council updates superintendents on DelPASS installation
A secure red button that can instantaneously send a silent alarm to 9-1-1 is now installed in many schools across Delaware County, with plans to continue the installation process until all schools requesting a button are equipped with this life-saving technology.
This fall, Delaware County Council and the District Attorney’s office launched Delaware County Police Alert for School Safety (DelPASS), a silent alarm system that directly and immediately alerts law enforcement to a dangerous intruder or potential threat to the students and staff.
On Wednesday, Sept. 18, County Council Chairman Tom McGarrigle, Vice Chairman Mario J. Civera, Councilman Dave White and County Executive Director Marianne Grace met with superintendents from Haverford, Penn-Delco, Rose Tree Media and Upper Darby school districts to provide an update on implementation of the DelPASS system and to get feedback from the districts.
To date, the alarms have been installed in close to 100 schools, including those in the Garnet Valley, Interboro, Marple Newtown and Ridley school districts plus private schools such as Delaware County Christian and Stratford Friends School.
Schools are in the process of scheduling the installations with Radio Communications Service Inc., based in Eddystone. Schools in all 15 public school districts will be soon equipped with a silent alarm, in addition to private and parochial schools. School officials are determining the optimum location for the button and instructing the staff on their use.
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As the alarms are installed, Delaware County Council is sending a packet to each school, which includes a laminated instruction sheet, a protocol for the alarm’s use, an informational video for public use and an instructional video for staff use.
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In the aftermath of the 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, County Council secured a $188,600 grant to install panic/emergency buttons in 230 schools in the county, including public, private, parochial and accredited kindergarten programs. The funds came through the Southeast Pennsylvania Regional Task Force.
With the silent alarm, school workers don’t have to find a landline or dial a cellphone; they just have to push the red button and help is on the way. The alarms have a dedicated landline that goes directly to 9-1-1.
“Public safety is our No. 1 priority and we are always working on improving school safety,” Councilman White told the superintendents. “The panic buttons are another layer of technology that is now available to make our schools safer and to help law enforcement respond more quickly to a threat.”
White said that speed of response to an emergency in a school is critical and that in recent cases, the violence takes place in the first few minutes that the intruder is on site.
“Saving time saves lives when it comes to emergency response,” White said. “A silent alarm greatly reduces the time gap between someone recognizing a threat and calling for and getting help.”
The system also has an audio component that allows 9-1-1 dispatchers to hear events occurring in real time and to relay exactly what is happening to responding law enforcement.
The superintendents, who were joined by Dr. Lawrence O’Shea, director of the Delaware County Intermediate Unit, included Dr. William Keilbaugh of the Haverford School District, Dr. George Steinhoff, Penn-Delco, James Wigo of Rose Tree Media, and Dr. Richard Dunlap of Upper Darby.
“In December, two days after the tragedy at Sandy Hook, County Council and the District Attorney met with the superintendents who indicated they believed silent alarms or panic buttons would greatly enhance safety so we immediately sought funding to make that happen,” said Vice Chair Civera. “Now, we really value the assistance of the superintendents in implementing the DelPASS system in their school buildings.”
Superintendent Wigo said: “The Rose Tree Media School District community is very grateful to the District Attorney and to every member of Delaware County Council for their work in securing the funds to provide panic/alert buttons for every school in our District and the County,”
“In the event of a life-threatening situation in any of our schools, we know that time will be of the essence. The use of these buttons will allow affected school personnel immediately to contact and summon emergency response teams. I know that every Delaware County school places student and staff safety as the primary goal of daily operation and this technology provides all of us with a very important tool to meet that goal. Again and on behalf of all of the students of Delaware County, their parents and all of our staff members, I thank you,” Mr. Wigo said.
- DelPASS video: County Council is making available a brief public service announcement about DelPASS so that all county residents can be informed about this safe schools initiative. The video is now airing on the Delaware County government website at www.co.delaware.pa.us.
