Olentangy Schools expands emergency preparedness, launches new student wellness tools

LEWIS CENTER — Olentangy Schools is continuing to update how students and staff prepare for emergencies across the district’s 29 school buildings.

Director of Safety, Security and Preparedness Ron Vogel gave the Olentangy Board of Education an update Thursday on the district’s safety initiatives and additional improvements planned for the upcoming school year.

Vogel, a former Delaware County Sheriff’s Office employee, said the district’s approach centers on three priorities: proactive preparedness, collaboration and student and staff wellness.

“Our main goal is to make sure our students and our staff show proficiency in their ability to lock down, show proficiency in the ability to barricade and show proficiency in the ability to evacuate in a safe manner,” Vogel said.

Proactive preparedness updates

Vogel initiated a new internal safety committee in the district, comprised of principals, secretaries, transportation staff and custodial staff.

The committee will periodically meet to discuss ways to enhance safety and security.

“We know we’re a great school district, but to stay great we’ve constantly got to improve,” Vogel said.

The district has made infrastructure improvements to its more than 1,100 security cameras, radio communications and door locks.

Vogel said radio communication has been expanded to rally and reunification sites, where students and staff would gather following an emergency that requires them to evacuate a school building.

There is also an emergency operation plan for each building.

Vogel also discussed the newly-implemented Code Blue system. The system has been integrated into the phone systems, allowing teachers to request immediate assistance without calling 9-1-1.

Code Blue will send for a response team, including the principal, school resource officers, nurse and other in-house or in-district officials.

The district also received a $104,000 grant from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to purchase classroom door security devices, panic alarms, security cameras and other safety equipment and supplies.

Collaboration

Vogel also spoke about some of the agencies the school works with related to safety, including the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office and local fire departments.

In October, the Delaware County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency will meet with district staff to host an emergency response practice activity.

Building administrators and secretaries will be given a random safety exercise to work through using their emergency operation plans. School staff and agency officials will then discuss how individuals responded and how they can improve.

The district will also restart a community stakeholder committee composed of Delaware County EMS, parents, the health district, hospitals and others.

The group will periodically meet to discuss things happening in the community and schools so that people who do not work in the district can share their insights, ideas and concerns.

Unique role of Sheriff’s Office

There are 10 school resource officers across the district, with the newest officer starting at Orange High School this past spring.

DCSO Sheriff Jeff Balzer attended the board meeting Thursday to highlight the importance of school resource officers.

He said although there are 10 resource officers in the schools, there are 19 deputies assigned to school safety.

Balzer shared that in 2025-26 school year, deputies responded to more than 600 calls for service to Olentangy Schools.

Most of those calls were related to harassment or threats and 55% of them were to the high schools, 25% were to the middle schools and 20% were to the elementary schools.

Now the DCSO will be involved in the schools in a new way with the launch of the “Handle with Care” program on Aug. 1.

Sgt. Andrew Lee, who supervises the school resource officers, helped launch the program, which informs teachers and the DCSO about students who may have recently experienced a traumatic event.

All school resource officers and certain school staff will receive, or already have received, training on how to report a student experiencing a traumatic event and how to refer a student for appropriate mental health services, if necessary.

School staff’s role in the program will be to closely monitor a student to determine if a referral is appropriate.

Lee said Olentangy Schools are the pilot for this program, but the DCSO hopes to deploy it in other school districts in the county if it’s successful.

Wellness

“Wellness and safety are intertwined,” Vogel said, adding that the district tailors its safety protocols to be age-appropriate and consistent with district expectations.

As one example, Vogel pointed to a sheriff’s deputy who recently gave students an e-bike safety presentation, extending the district’s focus on safety beyond the school building.

Vogel also highlighted two tools the district uses to identify and report potential safety concerns: Lightspeed and Stay Safe, Speak Up.

Lightspeed monitors school-managed devices and online activity to identify indicators of student harm, such as bullying, suicide ideation or content related to violence.

Stay Safe, Speak Up allows parents and students to confidentially to report safety concerns, building threats or other concerns anonymously.

Vogel said both systems operate 24/7 and are continuously monitored.

“It could be a Saturday morning that we have a student in crisis and our team will work together contacting family, contacting first responders to do a wellness check, if needed,” Vogel said.

Coming soon, Vogel said the district will partner with the Delaware County Public Health District to run a campaign about e-bike safety.

The program will provide information about road rules, district expectations, safety tips and e-bike classifications.

Also coming soon, the district will send out a safety, security and preparedness notebook to families in the district. The notebook promotes transparency about emergency response and communication in the district.

“I’m really, really excited about that,” Vogel said.