Chris Schools
You could say that Caroline County Dispatcher Chris Schools was destined for a career in public service from day one.
“I was basically born in Fire and Rescue,” Schools said. “My father was in Fire and Rescue and I started as a volunteer with Bowling Green in 1983 at 16 years old. I met my wife in the Rescue Squad.”
“It’s basically all I have done. Before this I was on an ambulance.”
Schools went to work as a dispatcher with the City of Richmond in 1990. In 1999 he began working as a Communications Officer handling essentially the same duties for Hanover County. He is still fulltime in Hanover and works part time in Caroline County, where his wife Debbie is also a dispatcher.
“I give them (Caroline) a month when I am available and they put me in the schedule. Lately Schools has been on nights and his wife has been on days, so there are times when they see each other only in passing.
Working essentially the same job in two counties might seem confusing. “I have to remember where I am. Luckily we answer the phones the same way on both jobs,” Schools quipped.
Having a background like his must be an asset when it comes to answering emergency calls, however. Schools knows instinctively how severe an emergency is and what sort of police, fire and rescue units are required to meet that emergency.
At night and on weekends, which can get hectic at times, Caroline usually has three dispatchers on duty so members of the public get an instantaneous response when they dial 911.
“Everything that happens in the county comes through us,” Schools said. “We can be sitting there and nothing is happening and all of a sudden we get busy.
“You have to make that determination once you answer whether it is critical or not.
“We’ve taken house fires and a lot of domestics,” Schools said, adding that motor vehicle wrecks also light up the switchboard with great frequency.
“With domestics we try to stay on the phone with the caller, determine if the assailant is still there or if he has left the house. If he has left, we try to find out what type of vehicle he is in.”
It is important for a caller to give his or her address and to stay as calm as possible and answer all of the dispatcher’s questions,” Schools said. When the caller is in a panic this is not an easy thing to do sop it helps to have an experienced and patient dispatcher on the other end of the line.
“In the case of a fire, you would think a citizen would know to get everybody out of the house, but sometimes they don’t,” Schools said.
Dispatchers also have to handle a lot of unnecessary calls that probably should not come in on the 911 emergency lines. “We get citizens who want to know what time it is or who have lost their dogs,” Schools noted. The non-emergency line is where these types of calls should go, but punching in 911 is a reflex action for a lot of people.
Chris and Debbie Schools have a 19-year-old son, Devin. “He graduated from Caroline High School two years ago and works at Roma’s in Bowling Green while deciding what to do,” Schools said.
“I’ve tried to get him involved in [public service],” Schools said.
Asked what his outside interests are, Schools answered, “I like to take vacations about four times a year, usually to Florida. But, basically, if I am not on vacation, I work.
“I try to make a difference.”
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