February is Career & Technical Education Month

Story provided by Kathy Pullano, editor and owner of The Journal Era.

A 911 Telecommunicator course is now being taught as a pilot program as part of the Law Enforcement Career Technical Education (CTE) class being provided by instructor Rich Albers and overseen by Berrien County 911 Dispatch Center Director Caitlin Sampsell, Berrien Springs Public Schools CTE Director Brian Terry said.  911 Telecommunicators handle medical, fire, police and other emergency calls daily that come in from throughout the county, directing the best response possible to help those in need.

"It is a pilot program so we are trying a variety of things and seeing what works," Terry said. "We have a framework, but are working on how to facilitate it, and bring it together for the students who have shown interest and are enrolled in the program."Seven students are in the pilot program. The students are Sophie Gable of St. Joseph, Hadley House of Berrien Springs, Kristen Tavernier of Buchanan, Callie Shulke of Buchanan, Holden Carrington of Buchanan, Emily Lambert of Eau Claire, and Julia Prenkert of Buchanan.

"Our goals for the students is to make them aware of the position of the 911 dispatching job, and for them have a better understanding of that occupation as well as go through the initial training of what that looks like," said Albers, who is the director of the Law Enforcement CTE class.

"We also want it to help students develop life skills, like being able to read a map, type, problem solve, learn how to handle pressure, learn how to be a critical thinker, and to be able to properly answer and talk to people on the phone," Sampsell said.The program, once it is fully developed, will be a two-year program that would be started in the junior year of high school.

"We would hope at the end of the training, that Caitlin can hire some of them to fill some of the positions, and not have to train new hires as much," Terry said.  Students enrolled will be observed for their work ethic and abilities, so that those hired have the best chance of succeeding in the profession due to the need for more 911 dispatchers.

"The program will give us an opportunity to experience each student's work quality and efforts, and build trust in them," Sampsell said. "When we interview applicants, it is a bit of a leap of faith most of the time. We don't know if they can truly handle the job until they are in it, and it is very complex. We want to make sure the applicant knows what they are entering into before they are hired, and student who are part of this program will have already experienced what we do here." 

"This is an awesome opportunity for young people as it gives them a chance to earn a entry level salary of $48,000 a year (before overtime and holidays. The position starts at $23.07 an hour, and those who are hired are guaranteed a raise under the contract at least for the first five years."Albers noted that students who complete the program successfully earn a 911 Operator Dispatch Certificate by completing a State 911 Office approved Basic 40 hour dispatch course, plus certificates in First Aid, CPR, Hazardous Materials, Stop the Bleed, Blood Borne Pathogens, various Federal Emergency Management Act programs, which are all part of the incident command system, and more.

"The students can earn up to eight industry recognized certificates that they can use toward state requirements for 911 training," Albers said."We are working on how we can also provide advanced training required by the State," Sampsell said. "Designated 911 Telecommunicators need an additional 40 hours of targeted training in suicide prevention, domestic violence, stress, liability, and Homeland Security, and more."The students will see how actual dispatching works, listen to calls, and job shadow with members of Berrien County's 911's team."They will be training with us as part of the program," she said. "They could experience routine calls or significant or traumatic calls. They will have access to social workers through the CTE program, and they will learn how to work through their feelings and move forward with them."The 911 center for Berrien County works with 50 agencies, Sampsell stated."We are a complex center," she said. 

"We work with police and fire departments throughout the county, and Medic 1, SMCAS, Three Oaks Ambulance, and more."The 911 system needs more applicants for open positions and all those involved hope that a program such as this will generate more interest and more applicants to serve residents throughout Berrien County.

"We don't see as many applicants as we used to," Sampsell said. "We want to grow those applicants, give them an understanding of what kind of job they would be applying for, and teach them the skills they need so they can be prepared when they enter the profession."She added that 911 is nationwide, so students can take the skills they learn wherever they go as they move forward in their careers.The 911 center staffs approximately 34 and there are currently two vacancies.Terry is proud that Berrien Springs Public Schools' CTE Law Enforcement program will be part of the process of helping to generate applicants for the 911 center.

"I feel honored to be a part of this--to provide some potential employees for our 911 system, and to give our students an opportunity to partake," he said. "It is great to be able to identify an industry need and to provide students who want to learn and have a high interest in this field."Albers brought the idea up three years ago, and is pleased that it is going to be developed into a first rate learning opportunity and possible job opportunity for students.This can be a whole career for some of the students as there are a variety of jobs available under the 911 umbrella, he said.

"There are opportunities available for training, supervising, management, tech support, and much more," Sampsell said. "This can be for those who want to be in the public safety realm but not be in the field (like a police officer, EMT or firefighter) or if they do want to be in the field, they can learn some solid, base skills to be a policeman, fireman or ambulance worker, or they can be a volunteer firefighter and a full-time dispatcher. We have also had staff members be reserve police officers."In years past, Berrien Springs had three firefighters who were dispatchers at the same time."I think the opportunities here are awesome, and I am glad Berrien Springs and the county have partnered," Albers said. "Hopefully it leads to other partnerships, we just need more space (for programs and equipment)."

"The school is an integral part of the community--this program brings the community inside the walls of the school and they can see what we are doing as a school unit," Terry said. "It  brings us  together; we are moving forward on our goal to supply the workforce with laborers.""This program industry based," he emphasized. "There is an end goal."

"I am surprised at the engagement interest of the students, " Terry added. "Seven wanted to try it in addition to their law enforcement work. They jumped at the opportunity to learn more."He emphasized that the 911/law enforcement program is available to students countywide as part of being a CTE program.

This story was provided by the local Berrien Springs newspaper, The Journal Era.  The Journal Era is located at 101 W. Ferry Street Berrien Springs, MI.