Melissa Lee comforted her son and daughter after a student opened fire at a high school in suburban Kansas City, injuring an administrator and a police officer who was there.
A few weeks later, she mourned parents in Uvalde, Texas, who were forced to bury their children after the May Massacre. She said she was “absolutely” relieved to learn that her school district had purchased a panic alert system amid a surge in school violence, including shootings and fights. The technology includes a wearable panic button or phone app that allows teachers to notify each other and call the police in case of an emergency.
“Time is of the essence,” said Lee, whose son helped close classroom doors as police entered his school with guns. “They can push a button and, well, we know something is wrong, you know, really wrong. And then it puts everyone on high alert.”
Several states now mandate or encourage the use of the button, and a growing number of counties are paying tens of thousands of dollars for schools as part of a wider fight to make schools safer and prevent the next tragedy. The consumer frenzy includes metal detectors, security cameras, vehicle guardrails, alarm systems, transparent backpacks, bulletproof glass and door lock systems.
Critics say school officials go out of their way to show worried parents in action – any action – ahead of the new school year, but in their haste they may highlight the wrong things. Ken Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Service, said it was “safety theatre.” Instead, he said, schools should focus on making sure teachers follow basic safety protocols, like making sure doors aren’t left open.
The attack on Uvalda illustrates the shortcomings of the alarm system. Robb Elementary School implemented an alert app and a school employee sent a lockout alert when the intruder approached the school. But not all teachers got it because of poor Wi-Fi quality or because phones were turned off or left in a desk drawer, according to an investigation by the Texas Legislature. Those who do may not take it seriously, the Legislative Assembly report says: “Schools regularly issue warnings related to Border Patrol car chases in the area.
“People want things they can see and touch,” Trump said. “It’s much harder to point out the value of employee training. These are intangible things. These are less obvious and invisible things, but they are the most effective.”
In suburban Kansas City, the decision to spend $2.1 million over five years on a system called CrisisAlert “was not a reflex reaction,” said Brent Kiger, Olathe Public Schools director of safety. He said he was monitoring the system even before the shooting at Olathe High School in March after staff confronted the 18-year-old amid rumors he had a gun in his backpack.
“It helps us appreciate it and look at it through the prism: “We survived this critical event, how will it help us?” It will help us on that day,” he said. “There is no doubt about that.”
The system, unlike the one Uvalde relies on, allows employees to initiate a lockdown, which will be announced by flashing lights, hijacking employee computers, and a pre-recorded announcement via intercom. Teachers can turn on the alarm by pressing the button on the wearable badge at least eight times. They can also call for help to end a fight in the hallway or provide emergency medical attention if the staff presses the button three times.
The product’s maker, Centegix, said in a statement that demand for CrisisAlert was growing even before Uvalde, with new contract revenue up 270% from Q1 2021 to Q1 2022.
Arkansas was one of the first to implement the panic button, announcing in 2015 that more than 1,000 schools would be equipped with a smartphone app that would allow users to quickly connect to 911. At the time, education officials said the program was the most comprehensive in the country .
But the idea really took off after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was among the victims, founded Make Our Schools Safe and began advocating for panic buttons. When shots rang out, she wrote to her daughter that help was on the way.
“But in fact there is no panic button. There is no way to immediately contact law enforcement or emergency services to get to the scene as quickly as possible,” said Lori Kitaygorodsky, a spokeswoman for the group. “We always think that time equals life.”
Legislators in Florida and New Jersey responded by passing Alyssa laws requiring schools to start using emergency alarms. Schools in the District of Columbia have also added panic button technology.
Following Uwalde, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a new bill requiring school districts to consider installing silent alarms. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt issued an executive order calling on all schools to install panic buttons if they are not already in use. The state has previously provided funding to schools to subscribe to apps.
Nebraska, Texas, Arizona, and Virginia have also passed laws called Keeping Our Schools Safe for years.
This year, Las Vegas schools also decided to add panic buttons in response to the wave of violence. The data shows that from August to the end of May 2021, there were 2,377 assaults and battery incidents in the county, including an after-school assault that injured a teacher and knocked him unconscious in class. Other counties that have increased the “back to school” panic button include North Carolina’s Madison County Schools, which also place AR-15 rifles in every school, and the Houston County School District in Georgia.
Walter Stevens, executive director of school operations at Houston County’s 30,000-student school, said the district trialled the panic button technology at three schools last year before signing a five-year, $1.7 million contract to make it available at all. buildings. .
As with most schools, the district has revised its safety protocols since the Uvalda tragedy. But Stevens insisted that the Texas shooting was not the impetus for the larger panic button. If students feel insecure, “it means they are not doing well in our school,” he said.
Experts monitor whether the button works as promised. In places like Florida, the panic button app has proven unpopular with teachers. Mokanadi, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Employees, asked what happens if a false alarm goes off or if a student presses the panic button to cause confusion?
“By throwing so much technology into this problem… we may have inadvertently created a false sense of security,” Kanadi said.
The area, represented by Senator Cindy Holscher of Kansas, includes part of Ola West County, where her 15-year-old son knows the Ola West shooter. While Holsher, a Democrat, supports adding panic buttons to the region, she said schools alone won’t solve the nation’s mass shootings.
“If we make it easier for people to have access to firearms, it will still be a problem,” said Holschel, who supports red flag laws and other measures requiring safe gun storage. None of these measures were considered in the Republican-dominated legislature, she said.
The data is a snapshot in real time. *Data is delayed by at least 15 minutes. Global business and financial news, stock quotes, market data and analysis.