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Middle and High School

Vape Detectors Coming

Due to the increasing numbers of vaping incidents in our schools, the District is
embarking on an ambitious project to install vape detectors in all middle and high
schools in the near future. Beyond the impacts on student health, education,
and discipline, vape pens also have a negative effect on our buildings and
infrastructure, leading to costly repairs and out-of-service facilities.

The vape detectors will provide alerts and notifications to select school staff when
a vaping incident has been identified, allowing prompt response and mitigation.
Along with the vape detectors, a cloud-based application for administration,
alerts and notifications, reporting and dashboards will be available for school
and District administrators. The application will be able to quickly identify vaping
hot spots, trends, and history to allow school staff to more quickly respond to
vaping incidents and greatly reduce the vaping problem over time.

The IT PMO is managing the project on behalf of the
Chief Operating Office and the Chief of Equity and
Wellness. Plans to install the initial vape detectors are
being finalized and installation will begin by the end
of the school year through a pilot program to source out
implementation and operational challenges, followed by full-scale
implementation at all middle and high schools.

First Responder

RADIO ENHANCEMENT

The School District of Palm Beach County Police Department recently embarked
on a critical upgrade to their First Responder Communications Network to further
enhance their daily and emergency communications. The project involved
replacing all First Responder radios as well as upgraded capabilities in the
School Police Dispatch Center. Sponsored by Chief Sarah Mooney, the project
aims to bring the latest state-of-the-art communication abilities and standards
to the department and align with partner law enforcement and emergency
operations across the county.

The IT PMO provided project management services in partnership with the
vendor. The infrastructure to support the new system was built out first, followed
by new Dispatch Center hardware and software. A new agreement with Palm
Beach County was needed to grant access to the County’s Public Safety Radio
System. Finally, the radios and supporting technology were thoroughly tested
in-house prior to training and rollout to all School Police officers, command
staff, and support personnel.

The new radios are currently fully operational and in use throughout the District,
providing an additional level of safety, responsiveness, and coordination to
District students, teachers, staff, and visitors.
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