Broward school buses to come off public safety radio system before new school year starts.
Broward school officials expect to have their bus radios off the county’s overloaded public safety radio system when the new school year starts in August.
The buses are one of the largest users of the system. The overloaded network, also used by police and firefighters, impeded emergency communications during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting a year ago this week and the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting in January 2017.
Both incidents occurred near the end of the school day when bus radios were being turned on as drivers prepared to take students home from school.
County officials told members of the county’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas task force Jan. 31 that they were still uncertain about the school district’s plans, but school officials said they are working on the same schedule they established last year.
“As a county commissioner, I want to make sure that that really happens,” Commissioner Michael Udine said Tuesday.
County Administrator Bertha Henry said the bus switchover effort is “pretty aggressive” and county and school district teams will be meeting weekly to keep the project on track. Henry and Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie called the migration a “priority” in a joint memo issued Tuesday.
Runcie told School Board members last week that the district was waiting on the county to complete some configuration changes to the radio system, but he said that has not affected the schedule.
“As soon as the school year ends in early June, we will start switching out all our buses,” Runcie said.
District officials plan to purchase 1,425 mobile and 574 portable radios this month that are needed for the change. The district will run a pilot of the new system between April and May.
Bus drivers are to be trained on the new radios over the summer.
“We understand the need to separate ourselves in the most expedient fashion,” School Board member Patricia Good said at the Feb. 5 meeting.
The school district buses, along with other non-emergency government operations that have been on the public safety system, are migrating to a new Local Government Radio System. The county expects to have its users off the system by April. Some, including the city of Sunrise, are already on the new system.
School officials said the summer break gives the district the time it needs to make the large change.
“The system transition for buses needs to happen during a period of non-use as it is an ‘all in’ transition, which is why the district needs to wait until Summer 2019,” school officials said in response to written questions from the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The county is working to have a new, improved public safety radio system up and running by the end of the year. It is still trying to work out the details for a new Hollywood tower, which is needed for the system to be fully operational. The tower will also require federal approval before it can be constructed.
At Hollywood’s request, the county plans to place the tower on top of the Circ residential complex, if a lease agreement can be reached with the owner, instead of in West Lake Park as had been previously planned. The park site was opposed by nearby residents who complained a 300-foot-plus tower did not belong in a park.