In-Building Wireless Tech and Policy Summit Puts Focus on School Safety and the Critical Role of Wireless Connectivity
Safer Buildings Coalition's In-Building Wireless Tech & Policy Summit is back in Washington, DC on June 6th. And this year’s program and speaker lineups are even stronger than at last year’s inaugural event. The 2024 Summit places a special emphasis on the crucial issue of School Safety and the role of wireless communications in making schools and colleges safer. On the agenda: a special expert panel session on School Safety and a keynote from Lori Alhadeff, Co-Founder MAKE OUR SCHOOLS SAFE. While seeking and implementing every solution that could make schools safer for our kids and educators is an urgent and necessary, national quest, the Safer Buildings Coalition and the wireless ecosystem are bound to examine how public safety communications failures have been a factor in mass-casualty incidents, and how we must work to improve or eliminate such problems wherever possible. The after-action reports for school shootings in the US – all the way back to Columbine in 1999 – tell us that poor radio and cell communications hampered emergency response. The School Safety and the Critical Role of Wireless Connectivity panel session explores the current state of school wireless tech and policy, delving into state and federal legislation (notably ALYSSA'S LAW) that offer help to schools to ensure that critical communications are always available inside school buildings during emergencies. Named for Alyssa Alhadeff who was 14 when she died in the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, Alyssa’s Law is critical legislation addressing the issue of law enforcement response time when a life-threatening emergency occurs because time equals life. The law calls for the installation of silent panic alarms that are directly linked to law enforcement, so in case of any emergency they will get on the scene as quickly as possible, take down a threat and triage any victims. Alyssa’s Law is currently in effect in New Jersey and has been passed in five other states: Florida, New York, Texas, Tennessee and Utah. Alyssa’s Law bills have been introduced in several other states, and at the fed level HB 4999, introduced by Congressman Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ). To lead off our discussion of school safety and Alyssa's Law, we are honored to have Alyssa's mother Lori Aldaheff, co-founder of Make Our Schools Safe. In their grief over the loss of Alyssa, Lori and her husband Ilan Alhadeff founded MAKE OUR SCHOOLS SAFE (MOSS) so that no other parent must endure the pain they live with. School Safety Panelists:
These are just two parts of a full day of engagement, education and networking at the 2024 In-Building Wireless Tech & Policy Summit.
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