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- State to create digital school maps to aid first responders The state will spend just under $1 million to help first responders navigate schools more quickly when emergencies occur. As part of its Comprehensive School Safety Program, the Delaware Emergency Management Agency will use the money to create accurate and uniform maps of the state’s public and charter schools. The maps will enable law enforcement to react swiftly in unfamiliar environments. “The digital maps will allow responders and schools to plan accordingly for the layout of their building, such as knowing where the rooms and structures are and where to shelter-in-place,” said Doug Scheer, school safety planner at DEMA. They also allow schools to plot their first aid kits, defibrillators and cameras, Scheer said, and anything else that might be needed in the event of an emergency. DEMA will use Critical Response Group’s Collaborative Response Graphics to digitally map the schools. The New Jersey firm specializes in collecting and digitizing school building blueprints and making them available to first responders. According to DEMA, Collaborative Response Graphics are built upon the same tactical and operational framework used by the military. The maps will include room labels, hallway names, external door and stairwell numbers and key utility locations. They are designed with high-resolution imagery of the entire campus and accurate labeling for parking areas, athletic fields, roads, and neighboring properties. In total, 237 schools will be mapped, Scheer said. “Once those maps are all updated and approved, we’re going to load them into each school’s portal so that it will have both the aerial map and floor plan,” Scheer said. “We’ll then provide them to all of our police, fire and dispatch centers in advance, which is something they’ve never had the opportunity to have before.” DEMA will also provide the maps to the Division of Public Health for their sheltering plans in the event of a hurricane or tornado, since many school buildings are designated shelters. “The final thing is our radiological emergency preparedness plan, which deals with schools that are within a 10-mile radius of the nuclear generating station in Salem, New Jersey,” Scheer said. The maps will be important to that plan because schools within the 10-mile radius must be evacuated if an accident occurs at the nuclear plant. Sharing the maps with first responders and law enforcement allows those workers to facilitate interagency training exercises, school drills, and coordinate post-emergency reunification processes to bring families together. Scheer said several agencies plan to conduct periodic walk-throughs and campus visits to ensure the maps are up to date. “These digital blueprints and maps represent a significant, tangible investment in school safety and security throughout Delaware,” said Safety and Homeland Security Secretary Nathaniel McQueen in a press release. The Delaware General Assembly provided funding for the project as part of a $10 million allocation to the School Safety and Security Fund, which was originally established in 2018. Scheer expects the project to take between six and eight months.... Read More
- Wilmington police to hand out wheel locks for Kias, Hyundais Owners of Hyundai and Kia vehicles will have yet another opportunity to obtain a free steering wheel lock to prevent car theft. As the trend of Hyundai and Kia models being stolen continues, the Wilmington Police Department will give away the locks Saturday, July 8 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the parking lot of ShopRite, 501 South Walnut Street. New Castle County Police hosted an event May 15 to make sure some Hyundai and Kia vehicles had the safety devices. RELATED: Free steering wheel locks for some Hyundais, Kias The Wilmington Police locks will be given away on a first-come, first-served basis. Those looking to take advantage of the giveaway must be Wilmington residents and arrive in their vehicle. Cars are eligible if they are a 2011 to 2021 Hyundai or Kia model with a key start ignition that has not received the anti-theft software upgrade from the manufacturer. New Castle County Police offered these additional tips to protect your car from left: Lock your doors, as part of your 9 p.m. routine. “At 9 every night, you should lock all vehicles, residences, garages, windows, gates and sheds; secure or bring inside your tools, bikes, keys and other valuables; and activate exterior lights, security cameras and alarm systems, according to Family Safety and Health. Remove your keys and spare keys from the vehicle. Ensure the wheel lock is properly installed. Make sure all windows are closed. Park in well-lit areas. Park near surveillance cameras. Install an audible alarm or motion-activated in-car camera. Install an additional tracking device. Don’t leave valuables in your car. Don’t leave your car running unoccupied. Be alert.... Read More
- Child care bonuses set at $1,000; registry to open soon The Department of Education is finalizing a registry that will allow child care workers in Delaware to apply for the direct financial relief they were promised six months ago. They may not get as much as initially expected. By estimating the number of providers who would qualify for assistance, Gov. John Carney and the Delaware Department of Education in Nov. 2022 announced workers could expect direct relief payments of “up to $1,500.” Jamie Schneider, president of the Delaware Association for the Education of Young Children, said she was told the Department of Education now believes the number of workers to be greater than expected. Providers can therefore expect to receive $1,000 payments instead of $1,500 payments, she was told. The payments will be considered taxable income. The application process will be ready to launch in May with the first payments being distributed before the end of the month, according to sources at the Department of Education. Once launched, providers will have 60 days to apply for their payments. After that time, if there is any money left of the $10.6 million allocated, additional payments could be made to providers. The money for the direct relief payments comes from the American Rescue Plan Act, which provided more than $120 million in relief for Delaware’s child care industry. By Feb. 2022, providers began expressing displeasure that after three months, payments still had not been made. Officials said then the Department of Education was working to develop a registry of those working in Delaware’s child care industry. That registry will collect the personal information needed to issue the taxable payments. The governor’s office said at the time that a statewide child care worker registry is “a best practice we currently do not follow and that most other states have.” Complicating matters, the Department of Education position that oversees child care was vacant for the first three months of 2022. Carney created the associate secretary of early childhood support position in June 2020. The first person to hold that position, Yvette Fuentes Sanchez, left in Dec. 2021. Because of the state’s lengthy application process, it took three months before Caitlin Gleason was hired to fill the role. During that time, Schneider said, “There was a lack of leadership in DOE for early education” and “the ball was dropped.” But since the staffing change, Schneider said, “Gleason has made this a priority and worked diligently to oversee the project herself to ensure payments would be expedited.” On Wednesday, the Delaware Department of Education said the registry is nearing completion. “The Delaware Department of Education is excited to be finishing the first phase of its early childhood professional registry that will allow the state to provide bonuses directly to professionals working in child care in Delaware,” said Alison May, public information officer with the Department of Education. The department is working with childcare professionals to get feedback and test the system, she said. “Professionals can expect DOE to provide the web portal link with the application later this month,” May said. Schneider welcomed the news and said she’s not upset the payments will be less than expected. “The Delaware Association for the Education of Young Children is encouraged to see swift and urgent prioritization of the $10.6 million in ARPA funding to provide bonuses to the early childhood workforce by the newly-appointed associate secretary of early childhood support, Caitlin Gleason, after a substantial delay.” While Schneider said she is happy the payments will be going out, “the importance of long-term sustainable funding to the early care and education system in Delaware cannot be underscored. “It is up to the Governor’s office and the Joint Finance Committee to continue to increase funding to make sure the early childcare workforce continues to see increases in wages.”... Read More
- Friends boasts first all-Black swimming team to make state medal podium Team member Ameer Bashir said all the chaos of the last year helped the team come together and bear down.... Read More
