Auburn launches safety telecommunicator program

Course aims to save money, provide uniformity in training standards

Centralized training for future safety communications professionals will soon be a reality in Lake County.

Auburn Career Center recently launched a new Adult Workforce Education Public Safety Telecommunicator class as a component of the vocational school’s adult public safety programs that include Firefighter 1 & 2, Emergency Medical Technician, Paramedic, Public Safety Academy, Fire Inspector and more.

The pilot course serves as collaboration between the Lake County commissioners — who allotted the $40,000 funding through a surplus from Lake County Clerk of Courts Maureen Kelly and her office — Captain Mike Warner of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and various area dispatch centers.

In addition, multiple elected officials and government agencies from various counties have been instrumental in playing a key role in the development of the program to provide consistent training, said Michelle Rodewald, Auburn’s director of adult workforce education and business partnerships.

“The full 600-hour program will run in January and have an internship at local dispatch centers which allows those who complete the class to seamlessly transition into the role,” she added.

The telecommunicator program was conceived when Warner approached Auburn about the need for a consistent, comprehensive and rigorous training program for dispatchers that can adequately prepare people to foray into the field of telecommunications at any emergency dispatch center.

The program also aims to save local dispatch centers money and time in conducting their own onsite training while providing uniformity in the process, ensuring all dispatchers are trained to the same standard.

In addition, the program will help provide a pipeline into the career field, as there is currently a shortage of dispatchers in the region, Rodewald said.

Graduates of the program will earn a certification as an emergency service telecommunicator.

According to Auburn, the goal is for the class to lead to the state requiring the certification for future telecommunicators as a standardized way of knowing the educational attainment of someone new entering the field.

The program will run Mondays through Thursdays from 5 to 9 p.m. to accommodate students’ work schedules starting in January and ending in August 2021.

Representatives from Lake, Cuyahoga, Ashtabula and Geauga counties have also come together to create the syllabus, lesson plans, sit on the program advisory council, and sign up as teachers and even students of the class.

“Our job as a career and technical center is to match up our high school and adult training programs to the need of the local business community, and helping to prepare first-responders will benefit everyone,” said Auburn Superintendent Brian Bontempo.

“This is one of the best examples of community partnerships that we’ve embarked on, and to have the support of the commissioners, first responders in the region and the sheriff’s department has been excellent,” he added. “We’re happy to utilize our facilities and our infrastructure to make this happen and we can’t think of a better way to maximize taxpayer dollars to run a program like this.

“We’re hopeful that other communities will learn from our experience and be able to offer this locally through their career centers,” Bontempo said. “I was really impressed with the level of willingness to participate from everybody to experienced dispatchers to the sheriffs to the commissioners. Everyone stepped up.”

Burton Township resident and dispatcher Kailey Hull, who graduated from Auburn in 2012, believes the program broadens the curriculum, introducing new students to additional elements of public safety practices and protocols.

“I came into dispatch with just EMS/firefighter background, but no police, so I think it will be good to have that extra knowledge before you’re thrown into a room that can be super-chaotic,” said Hull, who is assisting with the launch.

“It’ll be good for new dispatchers to have a full scope of experience which can only benefit public service. That’s what it’s all about.”

CHAD FELTON — THE NEWS-HERALD Captain Mike Warner of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, left, background, and Auburn director of adult workforce education and business partnerships Michelle Rodewald, left, standing, discuss details of the vocational school’s recently launched telecommunicator program.

CHAD FELTON — THE NEWS-HERALD Auburn Career Center’s public safety telecommunicator program came together through the collaborative efforts of several Lake County entities, including various area dispatch centers. Auburn Superintendent Brian Bontempo, gesturing, and Sheriff Frank Leonbruno, seated, recently joined other county and school officials to introduce the new course.