School District Looks To Open New Public Safety Academy

Suisun City and Fairfield students may have the opportunity to train for the fields of law enforcement, fire prevention, emergency response, and related fields, as early as in the fifth grade.  is looking to open a Public Safety Academy in January of 2012.

“Actually, it was brought about by the local police chiefs in Suisun City and Fairfield,” said Kris Corey, Assistant Superintendent. “They were the ones that brought it to our superintendent’s attention and, really, they said this is something that we’d like to have happen.”

The school is mirrored after a public safety academy in San Bernardino that is open to students grade 5 to 12, but it would be the only school of its kind in Northern California.

The idea of such an academy is to get to kids early who might be interested in law enforcement and fire prevention, and teach them the necessity of a clean record to be able to go into such fields.

“What (these fields were) finding is they aren’t getting the type of candidates they need for the police and fire academy because at the middle school or maybe at the younger high school level, kids are doing some negative things-- like let’s say they get in trouble with the law and even minor offences, it disqualifies them from being able to participate at the academy.”

Their aim is not only to make sure potential candidates stay out of trouble, but are competent for the field. Ciriculum will also allow for graduates to enter into college programs.

“So what they do is kind of build their own so that they’re teaching these students, at a young age, all of those skills that they need to be successful and hopefully they will go into the police or fire academy,” said Corey.

Police and Fire chiefs throughout the seven cities in Solano County, as well as numerous county officials, have rallied in support of for FSUSD’s Public Safety Academy.

Currently, the school district is accepting applications for grades 5 through 7. As the years progress, students will move into higher grades, as the district hopes for the school to teach grades 5 through 12. If enrollment is sufficient, the academy could open as early as Jan. 10 of next year.

The district hopes to open the school at the old Adult School site at 1100 Civic Center Dr. FSUSD will be conducting two informational meetings for the Public Safety Academy on Tuesday, September 20 and Wednesday, October 5, both at 6:30 p.m. 

“(Those attending the meeting can) expect to be able to learn about the academy, what the plans are, what the curriculum entails, how to get in, the application process, things like that,” said Corey.

For more information about the Public Safety Academy, visit the school’s current informational website.