District of Columbia schools also added panic-button technology.įollowing Uvalde, New York Gov. Lawmakers in Florida and New Jersey responded by passing Alyssa’s Law, requiring schools to begin using panic alarms. “We always kind of go by the thinking that time equals life.” There was no immediate way to contact law enforcement or emergency services to get on site as soon as possible,” said Lori Kitaygorodsky, the group’s spokeswoman. “But in reality, there was no panic button. She had texted her daughter as shots rang out that help was on the way. Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter, Alyssa, was among the 17 killed, founded the group Make Our Schools Safe and began advocating for panic buttons. At the time, education officials said the plan was the most comprehensive in the nation.īut the idea really gained steam after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Staff also can summon help to break up a hallway fight or to deal with a medical emergency if they push the button three times.ĭemand for CrisisAlert had been growing even before Uvalde, with revenue from new contracts increasing 270% from the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2022, the product’s maker, Centegix, said in a statement.Īrkansas was an early adopter of panic buttons, announcing in 2015 that more than 1,000 schools would be equipped with a smartphone app that connects users quickly with 911. Teachers can set off the alarms by pushing a button on a wearable badge at least eight times. The system, a different one than what Uvalde relied on, allows staff to trigger a lockdown that will be announced with flashing strobe lights, a takeover of staff computers and a prerecorded intercom announcement. “It helped us kind of evaluate it and look at it through a lens of: ‘We’ve been through this critical incident, and how would it have helped us?' And it would have helped us that day," he said. He said he had been eying the system even before gunfire erupted in an Olathe high school in March as staff confronted an 18-year-old over rumors that he had a gun in his backpack. In suburban Kansas City, the decision to spend $2.1 million over five years for a system called CrisisAlert “isn’t a knee-jerk reaction," said Brent Kiger, Olathe Public Schools' director of safety services. Those are things that are less visible and invisible, but they’re most effective.” “It’s a lot harder to point to the value of training your staff. “People want visible, tangible things,” Trump said. And those who did may not have taken it seriously, the Legislature's report said: The school sent out frequent alerts related to Border Patrol car chases in the area. But not all teachers received it because of poor Wi-Fi or phones that were turned off or in a drawer, according to an investigation by the Texas Legislature. Robb Elementary School had implemented an alert app, and when an attacker approached the school, a school employee did send a lockdown alert. The attack in Uvalde illustrated the shortcomings of panic-alert systems. Instead, he said, schools should focus on making sure teachers are implementing basic safety protocols such as ensuring doors aren't propped open. It's “security theater," said Ken Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services. The spending spree includes metal detectors, security cameras, vehicle barriers, alarm systems, clear backpacks, bullet-resistant glass and door-locking systems.Ĭritics say school officials are scrambling to show action - any action - to worried parents ahead of the new school year, but in their haste may be emphasizing the wrong things. Multiple states now mandate or encourage the buttons, and a growing number of districts are shelling out tens of thousands of dollars per school for them - part of a widespread scramble to beef up school security and prevent the next tragedy. And then it puts everybody else on high alert.” “They can hit a button and, OK, we know something’s wrong, you know, really wrong. “Time is of the essence,” said Lee, whose son helped barricade a classroom door and watched police enter his school with guns drawn. The technology, featuring wearable panic buttons or mobile phone apps, enables teachers to notify each other and police in the event of an emergency. She said she was “absolutely” reassured when she learned her district had since purchased one of the panic-alert systems gaining traction nationwide amid a surge in school violence that includes shootings and fights. Then weeks later, she wept for the parents in Uvalde, Texas, who were forced to bury their children after the massacre there in May. (AP) - Melissa Lee comforted her son and daughter after a student opened fire in their suburban Kansas City high school, wounding an administrator and a police officer stationed there.
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