UTICA - As schools seek answers for dealing with school threats, one local preschool is using technology to better protect faculty and students.
The Jewish Community Center in Utica has a system in place that connects teachers and administration through a mobile paging system, and the technician who installed the system says he wants to donate his time to protect other local schools.
It may look like a typical, everyday walkie talkie, but in an emergency, anybody with one of the radios can send out an instant alert, and the speaker system is installed through the whole center.
“It's a simple service, said Lynne Debrow, preschool director at the JCC. “There are two different things that you need to know and it's basically remembering to turn them on and put them on your hip.
John Puleo, owner of Professional Technologies, installed the system, and he says he’s reaching out to other school districts to help increase their safety, and he’s doing it for a relatively small sum.
“Most schools have the infrastructure in place, they already have a PA system, and in many instances it’s all we need to do is go in – they also have radios – so we would want a spare radio,” Puleo said.
It was one purchase that parents and teachers at the Jewish Community Center say gives them comfort during the school day.
“It’s immediate – you don't have to dial anything, you don't have to run up the stairs, you don't have to go to a different location; it's there with you,” Debrow said.
And in a time of crisis, employees have told Puleo they want something that gets the message out right away.
For school districts that are having concerns about adding this particular type of system into their school budgets, Puleo says he’s willing to cut the cost in order to make it happen.