DENVER — October is Colorado Safe Schools Month, and Denver7 went to Denver Public Schools to see how the district prepares for emergencies — from a control room dispatch center to individual plans at every school.
Across 195 Denver Public Schools, there are 4,000 cameras. Taylor McFadden is one of the DPS dispatch officers who keeps her eye on them.
"We take all the phone calls, all the radio traffic with patrol officers, Denver police as well. We monitor all of the alarm system. We monitor all the cameras," McFadden said.
Take a look behind-the-scenes at DPS Dispatch in the video below:
The dispatch center coordinates with 25 armed officers, 90 campus safety officers and Denver police to respond to any incidents.
The dispatch center gives a top-down view of the entire district, but preparing for emergencies starts on a smaller scale.
"Today, first we did a lockdown drill at Godsman Elementary. We do this at every school. We do it twice a year," said Tom Sebastiani, the manager of emergency management at DPS.
Sebastiani's job is to prepare school staff for any possible emergency. After a drill, the team goes over how successful it was and reminds each person what their individual role is.
Each school is different — from the languages students speak and the age of the students, to the physical design of the building.
"It could be different at every school because of the layout. Are you downtown, where you're in an urban environment? Are you far from downtown, where it's nothing but a neighborhood, or you could be surrounded by parks?" Sebastiani said.
The goal is an appropriate response tailored to the specific needs of every school.
"We all can work together to keep the students and staff and visitors safe. We can all be on the same page with safety," McFadden said.
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