Bloomington North and South high school teachers and staff will wear panic buttons, CENTEGIX’s CrisisAlert badges, for this school year. It’s part of a safety platform approved by the Monroe County school board in May.
The total cost of the platform is $126,800 over five years.
CENTEGIX is an incident response company in Atlanta that provides safety technology. About 95 percent of their clients are K-12 schools.
Around 25 school districts in Indiana use CENTEGIX, said Matt Young, regional vice president in the Midwest for CENTEGIX.
“When you talk about using the safety platform, it truly fosters a culture of safety, and that's what schools and districts are looking for,” said Young.
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The CrisisAlert badges are the size of a debit card, twice as thick, with a single button, and can be worn on a lanyard, he said.
The button has two features: staff alert and lockdown. Around 98 percent of the time the staff alert is used, said Young.
If a user presses the button three times it will activate staff alert telling responders, that the user needs help. Examples include a medical emergency or physical altercation between students.
If a user presses the button eight times, it activates the lockdown feature in the case of a serious threat on campus, such as an intruder. The lockdown features also include strobe lights, intercom announcement, notifications on staff devices and law enforcement alerts, he said.
“To be able to prioritize the safety of your staff and then be rewarded as an administrator to help those staff members feel empowered, trusted, confident and focused on the job that they need to do is huge,” said Young.
The platform also includes visitor management and a safety blueprint. This ensures that only authorized visitors are on campus and provides a way to locate a user on campus, respectively.
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“The implementation of the platform is part of our ongoing efforts to continuously enhance our safety infrastructure,” MCCSC Director of Strategic Communications Sarah DeWeese wrote in an email.
MCCSC was not available for an interview in time for publication. MCCSC’s first day of school is Aug. 6.
