Broward schools bungle high school intercom replacement

Broward schools botched an effort to replace outdated high school intercom systems with ones equipped to assist in an emergency, resulting in more than 60% of schools not having “properly functioning” systems, a new audit has determined.

Most of the systems are unable to perform a function that school district officials identified as a priority after the Parkland tragedy: ensuring a school’s fire alarm system doesn’t create unwanted evacuations in the middle of a mass shooting.

The district solicited bids in 2019 for an intercom system that could provide enhanced emergency communications to high schools, alternative schools and technical colleges, following a recommendation by a safety consultant.

But the district ended up buying a system that was more a standard public address system for non-emergencies and then made a failed attempt to upgrade it for emergency use without proper authorization, the audit concluded.

The switch from a traditional intercom system to an emergency communications system caused “massive delays in project execution, cost overruns and failure to install a functional intercom system at 53 schools,” states the audit, prepared by Hollywood-based HCT Certified Public Accountants and Consultants at the request of the school district.

Only 19 of 53 schools are at or near completion, five years after awarding a $15 million contract to Rauland Borg, an Illinois-based communications company, the audit determined.

Boxes of unopened equipment were sitting in schools for up to two years, and now some of the equipment may be obsolete, auditors wrote.

“Any delays in upgrading our safety systems are a cause for concern,” said Board Chairwoman Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter Alyssa was killed in the Parkland tragedy. “Nevertheless, it is important to note that all our schools currently have safety systems in place.”

She said Superintendent Howard Hepburn “has assured the Board of his unwavering commitment to school safety.”

The district had spent about $10.7 million on the intercom contract before it expired last year. The School Board awarded a new $6.9 million contract to Rauland Borg on July 18, 2023. Officials from the company couldn’t be reached Friday.

The audit found that the intercom systems were unable to override a fire alarm system during a mass shooting. On Feb. 14, 2018, dust related to gunfire triggered a fire alarm at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, causing students on the third floor of the 1200 building to evacuate, when the safer action would have been to hide in their locked classrooms, an investigation from a state safety commission determined.

The HCT audit found that in the five years since the intercom contract was awarded, the district went through five chief fire officials and four chief information officers, and some had conflicting ideas about what the capabilities of the system should be.

In 2020, a year after the contract was awarded, the school district officials decided to spend $3.45 million for extra communications devices designed to convert the intercom systems to emergency systems. This was announced to principals and other school officials in 2021 but never received the necessary School Board approval, the audit found.

Then on Jan. 20, 2023, Matt Decker, who was serving as the interim chief fire official for the district, sent a memo to several departments saying the the Rauland Borg system can only be installed as a stand-alone system and cannot be used for emergency purposes, since it doesn’t meet the emergency standards of the National Fire Prevention Association.

“All functions provided for emergency communication by the Rauland Florida intercom system shall be suspended,” he wrote.

Joe Phillips, the district’s current chief information officer, and Jaime Alberti, chief of safety and security at the time of the audit, disputed in the audit Decker’s assertion that the system had to meet National Fire Prevention Association standards.

They said in a letter to auditors the extra communications devices, known as Penton devices, were improperly purchased and caused delays in the project. Neither worked for the district at the time of the purchase.

The two administrators wrote that after learning about this in 2023, they brought their concerns to the superintendent and the School Board, which asked for the audit.

To avoid future problems, the administrators said they have refined their procedures to ensure major changes to contracts are justified and receive board approval.

“For any future changes in specifications, a thorough cost-benefit analysis will be conducted,” the two wrote. “We aim to ensure more disciplined and transparent management of project specifications and costs, avoiding unplanned escalations in the future.”

The audit alarmed members of the district’s Audit Committee, who reviewed it during a meeting Thursday.

Chairwoman Nathalie Lynch-Walsh said it was problematic that the district’s replacement intercom system wasn’t equipped to handle emergencies.

“This is not about the lunch specials of the day or who won the book fair. This is supposed to be for emergencies,” she said.

Audit committee members struggled to get an answer from district officials about whether schools will have a properly functioning intercom system when schools reopen in August and whether the systems can override a fire alarm if necessary.

“The short answer to whether we have functioning firearm and intercom system in the district is yes,” Mark Dorsett, interim chief facilities officer, told the committee. “As to whether they communicate with each other, that is what is being worked on with Safety and Security and fire inspections (departments) right now. That’s in the pipeline to install this new system and that they do communicate.”

Committee member Jaclyn Strauss asked Dorsett whether he felt the system was safe enough to send his own children to one of these schools in August. Dorsett said he’s the wrong person to ask, saying those questions should be directed to chief fire official and the chief information officer, neither of whom attended the meeting.

“If you’re asking me if I would send my child to a school right now with a functioning fire alarm and functioning intercom system, my answer would be yes,” he said.

“But you don’t know if it’s functioning,” Strauss responded.

“That’s what I’m telling you. I don’t know. That’s why you’re going to need to get your information from the chief fire official,” Dorsett said.

District spokesman John Sullivan told the Sun Sentinel, “Every BCPS school currently has a functioning fire and intercom system. In line with the District’s commitment to continuous safety improvement, we are upgrading these systems to enhance their capabilities. We are in the process of gathering cost estimates for the project, which encompasses multiple phases over several years.”