Paula Phelps, Career and Technical Education (CTE) Safety Officer at Salem-Keizer Public Schools, represents a new generation of safety leadership focused on accountability, collaboration, and practical innovation. In this podcast episode, Paula shares her professional journey from entering the field without formal risk management training to building a comprehensive CTE safety framework later adopted by the Oregon Department of Education. Her story shows how strong leadership and technology-enabled systems can improve safety outcomes for both students and staff.
Keywords: CTE safety management, school safety inspections, digital inspection software, playground safety inspection software
Paula began her career with limited exposure to formal risk management, but she quickly recognized the unique risks present in high-hazard CTE environments such as shops, labs, and technical classrooms. Through hands-on experience, continuous learning, and close collaboration with educators and staff, she developed structured safety processes designed for real instructional settings.
Her framework addressed compliance, documentation, and practical risk mitigation. It ultimately earned statewide recognition and adoption by the Oregon Department of Education, demonstrating her ability to translate frontline needs into a scalable, sustainable safety program.
Paula’s leadership approach is grounded in communication, teamwork, and shared responsibility. She believes effective safety programs succeed when educators, administrators, and facilities teams align around clear standards and consistent execution.
Rather than relying on enforcement alone, Paula focuses on education and collaboration. She supports teams with practical training, clear guidance, and accessible tools so staff can take ownership of safety outcomes and build a district-wide culture of prevention.
CTE safety management comes with complex challenges due to the use of machinery, tools, and specialized equipment. Paula highlights how difficult it can be to maintain consistent standards across departments while balancing instructional goals, compliance requirements, and limited resources.
She also emphasizes that strong documentation and clear communication are essential for transparency, audit readiness, and continuous improvement. These challenges create real opportunities to modernize safety programs through digital systems.
Keywords: school risk management, CTE safety programs, inspection workflows
Acknowledging the advantages of digital transformation, Gallagher has modernized operations by utilizing
Recognizing the need for modern inspection and reporting tools, Paula adopted ParkZapp as part of a broader digital safety strategy. ParkZapp supports school and CTE safety programs by simplifying inspections, centralizing documentation, and improving visibility across safety activities.
Through digital forms, real-time reporting, and structured workflows, ParkZapp enables proactive risk management, helping districts shift from reactive incident response to consistent prevention and accountability.
ParkZapp and other technologies. ParkZapp has grown to be an invaluable resource for Clear Creek Amana, helping with well-organized documentation, improving liability protection, and encouraging proactive playground and recreational equipment upkeep. Gallagher values ParkZapp’s user-friendly interface and its capacity to expedite maintenance and safety duties, enabling his staff to effectively oversee the district’s wide range of facilities requirements.
Paula Phelps’ work highlights the impact of leadership, innovation, and technology in modern education safety. By building structured safety systems and leveraging ParkZapp, she has strengthened compliance, improved inspection efficiency, and supported a proactive safety culture.
Her journey offers practical insight for safety officers, administrators, and educators working to protect students and staff through smarter systems, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
ParkZapp is a user friendly and customizable Park inspection application integrated with CPSC,CSA & ASTM standards.
