Safe Schools Comprehensive Plan and Program Management Services – GA, U.S.

Parsons is currently developing a comprehensive plan to improve safety and security for the students and staff of the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) in Georgia. We have been managing the district’s capital programs under a program management contract since 2012. Our team was recently approached by the district to evaluate its campuses against vulnerabilities and develop a safe school solution for more than 60 district facilities.

The project includes an evaluation of SCCPSS’s policies, procedures, training, and communications and awareness programs, as well as detailed site inspections to assess the technology and campus vulnerabilities against the threats facing our children today. Employing Parsons’ facility condition assessment software, eCOMET^®, we are gathering information to build comprehensive plans for each campus, which will include recommendations and strategies combining the best technologies and facility hardening components identified in our safe schools model.

SCCPSS operates a system of schools for grades K-12, serving approximately 38,000 students. We are providing program management services as part of the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) program to achieve SCCPSS goals, including:

• Constructing new schools and additions to schools to create cutting-edge learning environments
• Modifying existing schools to create a total and uniform equity of facilities across SCCPSS
• Implementing minority diversity plans to achieve good-faith efforts and goals
• Bringing creative solutions to school space construction during program build-out to minimize disruption to existing school operations and classroom instruction
• Utilizing and implementing the latest green and sustainable design strategies in school building construction projects
• Providing and updating a website designed specifically to provide the school community and the public with current program status information

In 2015, Parsons also provided facility condition assessment and capital project planning services to SCCPSS. We assessed approximately 6.5 million gross square feet and covered 59 facilities, including K-12 campuses; support facilities; charter schools; offices for transportation and facility services; and warehouse facilities.