Colleges look for better way to alert students
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RAPID CITY - The
sooner, the better.
That was the
message South Dakota Board of Regents members sent to the emergency
alert systems task force Thursday morning.
"This isn't
something we can study for two years," board president Harvey
Jewett said. "If we're doing nothing but holding meetings and
something happens, we'll look like idiots."
The task force was
recently formed to analyze ways schools can revamp current
emergency alert systems and possibly form a system-wide process
that all schools will use.
Monte Kramer,
system vice president for Administrative Services, and Jim
Shekleton, general counsel, reported to board members that they
were working as quickly as possible to get something in
place.
But they are up
against several issues, including cost, taking the time to include
community emergency officials such as fire and police, and trying
to rein in each school as they each search for their own
solutions.
Instead of every
school doing their own research, Kramer said, he would like to see
all institutions working together and with the same companies for a
system-wide approach to emergencies.
Kramer said the
institutions are trying to be proactive and several have already
contacted companies that provide services such as text messaging,
voice mail messages, alarms, or e-mail messages to students,
faculty and staff.
"I'm trying to slow
down everybody a bit and let the system catch up so we don't have
multiple systems," which would be more costly, he said. "This does
not happen overnight. … But I realize we need to move
expeditiously."
Shekleton said
there are three basic areas that need attention when it comes to
emergency systems.
"We need to have a
plan in place … and we need to practice, practice, practice," he
said.
There needs to be a
system in place at each institution. So far, each school has
identified what they currently use, but research indicates that
schools need to be doing more and taking advantage of new
technology such as cell phones and the Internet.
"In the research,
every piece of literature has said that you have to have multiple
approaches," Shekleton said, including involving the local
community.
Kramer
agreed.
"We've got students
in class, students out of class, students driving to class," he
said. "Also, some faculty will not allow cell phones to be on in
class for obvious reasons; in that event, we need sirens and radios
in place."
Another issue,
Shekleton said, is more communication and identification of
students that might pose a threat to others.
He said they could
learn from the case of Virginia Tech last April, when a student
killed 32 people and wounded many more before committing suicide.
The student had a history of mental illness.
"Students are not
identified in a consistent fashion as being a threat," he
said.
It's important to
have a system with a single contact person dealing with all reports
of disturbing behavior. The challenge is effectively communicating
the information to the appropriate people without violating rights,
he said.
"We're reviewing
agreements with local law enforcement to establish systematic
action that would be consistent with student privacy rights," he
said.
Board member Terry
Baloun expressed concerns that the task force, as well as the rest
of the country, might be spending too much time analyzing research
and data and not acting fast enough.
"Are we trying to
over-engineer by trying to meet 100 percent of the people?" he
asked, in reference to report that a multi-tiered system is needed
because students in labs or basement classrooms might not be able
to hear a siren or answer a cell message.
Kramer agreed there
is probably some over analyzing being done but said that
expectations are high.
"People expect that
we have systems in place to protect their family members, friends,
etc.," he said. "We have to have multiple systems in place; an
alarm system on campus is not good enough."
He also noted that
school officials must not only alert students, but also provide
appropriate information.
"If there's a
shooter outside, you don't want them exiting the building," he
said. "We need to let them know what's going on."
In an earlier
interview, Jerilyn Roberts, the School of Mines campus
environmental health and safety manager, agreed that cell phones
should be one of the tools used in the event of an
emergency.
"I don't think it
can be used to tell the full story," she said. "But it's a short
amount of information of what to do then."
Ara Bagdasarian,
president of Omnilert, which developed e2Campus, said colleges and
universities shouldn't be waiting for an emergency to happen before
signing up with a company like his.
The e2Campus is
designed specifically for higher education institutions and
provides alert systems such as text messaging for students. They
also provide systems that would automatically dial students'
numbers in dorms, faculty phone numbers, trigger alarms and give
messages over a P.A. system. More than 300 colleges and
universities have signed on.
Text messaging is
highly effective, he said.
"The technology is
out there; you never know when something's going to happen," he
said. "There's no better way to communicate."
The university pays
for the service on an annual basis and the student pays a
reasonable fee of a couple dollars a year, he said. There is a
catch though - students must sign up and give their cell phone
number to the university, which has been problematic.
Janelle Toman,
director of institutional research, said in an earlier interview
that South Dakota universities and colleges are not the only
institutions dealing with this issue.
"This is an issue
that has claimed the attention of many campuses," she said. "We're
very fortunate we've had no serious incidents."
Jewett said it's
not too late to find money for a new emergency alert system because
they budget cycle hasn't lapsed until the Legislature
meets.
"But, we have to
have a number, and the sooner, the better," he said.
Kramer said the
task force is working toward having a preliminary recommendation to
the board by its December meeting.
"We are moving
forward," he said.
Contact Kayla
Gahagan at 394-8410 or
kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com
Posted in Top-stories on Monday, October 22, 2007 11:00 pm
/news/local
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