New app for emergency use approved

At the February meeting of the TUSD School Board, Sergeant Justin Ruppert from the Tehachapi Police Department presented the Board with a video presentation of the LifeSpot Prepare Protect Defend Phone app which would be used in case of an active shooter or other emergency incident at any of the schools in the district. In case of an active event, a touch of the app would alert all staff, responding and commanding officers, 911, the fire department and EMS. It will give all responders the location of all users and also identify any armed staff. A touch of a button can also notify responders of injured victims. It allows users to account for themselves with the use of the software. The annual cost to the district for 600 users would be $14,588 annually or $1.54 per month per user including the initial training.

The Board voted unanimously to adopt the new application. Only one other school in California is currently using this new app and that is Heritage Oak School here in Tehachapi. Sergeant Ruppert said the program was the best he had ever seen and it has already been approved by the city and the county. Superintendent Larson-Everson said she had discussed the use of the application with Tehachapi Police Chief Kent Kroeger prior to his retirement.

Golden Hills School will have solar canopy

At the January School Board meeting, Chief Business Administrator Hojat Entezari proposed that, in order to save district funds, Golden Hills Elementary School install ground-mounted solar panels instead of the more expensive canopy style. Golden Hills is the only school with enough unused land to install ground-mounted panels. The Board decided to conduct a survey of residents and bring it back to the February meeting. The survey showed that 66.7% of respondents wanted canopy-mounted panels, 23.8% wanted ground-mounted panels and 9.5% had no preference.

Board President Paul Kaminski said he had preferred the ground-mount but after hearing the response from residents, had changed his mind. The Board unanimously voted to install canopy-mounted solar panels at Golden Hills Elementary School.

The TUSD Board of Trustees meets on the second Tuesday of the month at Wells Education Center located at 300 S. Robinson St., Tehachapi, at 5 p.m.