In 2001, President Bush secured passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in order to strengthen the student experience in our public schools. Based on four principle pillars, this landmark act detailed the administration’s plan to improve the performance of America’s schools.

In addition to the theme of academic performance, NCLB also addresses the extremely important issue of school safety. One section of this act in particular—known as Title V—directly addresses the issue of the safety of both our children as well as the staff who teach them.

In a righteous attempt to improve the safety condition of our nation’s schools, NCLB sets strict requirements and guidelines, including the need to report safety statistics to the public and to anticipate the threat of violence.

In order to respond to these needs, solutions providers continue to work with school officials to address the most serious of safety offenses. XTEND Communications has created a solution called TESS (Telecommunications Enhancing School Safety). TESS provides school safety officials with a program guide and the tools to respond to any emergency that may arise. This is done by working within the school's existing communications infrastructure.

Like the NCLB act, TESS also is based on four pillars. These principles include victim 911 caller location, on-site notification, call recording and logging, and mass notification.

1) Victim 911 Caller Location

Typically, when a 9-1-1 call is placed the 9-1-1 call taker at the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) only receives basic information on the location of the caller. That may include a local street address with little else. If the caller is unable to tell emergency personnel exactly where they are located, this poses a serious threat.

When 9-1-1 is dialed from a facility protected with TESS, detailed information about the location of the call is delivered to the local PSAP dispatcher. The system then translates this to the exact location on campus where the call was initiated and emergency service personnel are able to respond to the exact location of the victim caller. This is a service that has become law in many states, and it is expected that many more will follow.

2) On-site Notification

Depending upon the nature of an emergency, a school’s reaction to the situation will vary. In the case of a medical emergency, both school officials and emergency personnel need to rush toward the victim to offer assistance. However in the case of an armed student the reaction is very much the opposite: students and faculty need to be rushed away from the scene. TESS equips your facility with the tools to most quickly and accurately assess the situation and respond.

3) Call Recording

When a threatening or questionable call is answered, the person answering the call presses a key on their telephone set or PC. This triggers a chain of events that includes recording the entire call (even if the threat was made before the key was pressed), sending the audio portion of that call or the live call to school safety officials, and performing a Malicious Call Trace for the source and location of the caller. A short message, such as “All calls are subject to recording.” has the power to eliminate a large percentage of false alarms.

4) Mass Notification

A mass notification tool provides a centralized command center for alerting and notifying emergency personnel, campus staff and parents. This can be done in multiple languages, if necessary. When large-scale school projects depend on a “yes” vote, a district cannot take chances on a campaign that is not properly executed. Late openings, snow days, truancy notification, upcoming teacher conferences, and school-funded programs are just some of the usage examples. Critical information such as SAT tests dates, how to acquire proficiency data, and after school tutoring programs can reach non-English speaking parents in a pre-defined time frame. A typical contact profile will contain language specific profiles, multiple contact numbers for home, office, and mobile phones, as well as fax, email, and numeric/alphanumeric pagers.

For more information on XTEND’s work with New Jersey public schools, please contact XTEND Communications at (800) 231 2556 or solutions@xtend.com.