Project lead (law enforcement and district) together is a collaboration between the concord school district, the concord police department, and new hampshire's homeland security and emergency…

Project lead (law enforcement and district) together is a collaboration between the concord school district, the concord police department, and new hampshire's homeland security and emergency management school readiness teams to improve security infrastructure in new hampshires capital citys public schools. Enhanced interagency coordination is a key priority of this project. The concord school district has a long-standing partnership with the concord police department, which affords for a school resource officer at the high school, regularly meets with district leadership about school/community safety priorities, and provides training to staff aligned with current research in school safety and crisis response. The NH department of safetys homeland security and emergency management school readiness program provides additional support as advisors on best practices, site risk assessors, and trainers in school safety exercises. The chief goals of project lead together are to enhance public safety partnership to both prevent school violence and ensure timely, effective responses in the event of an emergency; and to ensure optimal physical safety for those in the school community by updating facilities with evidence-based infrastructure improvements. The project will serve all 7 schools in the district, providing increased school safety for 4,200 pre-k through grade 12 students, their families, and staff, through: 1) streamlined two-way communication systems between schools, the SAU office, and law enforcement; 2) needed upgrades to industry-standard columbine locks to improve classroom security; and 3) the installation of blue light notification systems to ensure equitable access to alerts through an automated, integrated multi-sensory system. Through this project, concord school district and its partners will also leverage available resources to train together, develop common language and clear protocols for emergency management, and revise memoranda of understanding to build the capacity of each entity as well as the stakeholder team as a whole.