Staff in Shawnee Mission schools will be getting bluetooth-enabled badges next spring that will allow them to press a button and immediately call for help in emergencies.
The school board unanimously approved a five-year contract with Atlanta-based Centegix to supply the alert badges and train staff to use them.
The alert system, “has been attributed to saving lives not only in the most tragic of scenarios but also in some of what can be described as daily issues,” said Superintendent Michael Schumacher in recommending the purchase on Monday.
The district will pay $2.6 million to cover the installation, training and connectivity for the first five years. If the contract is renewed, then there would be a $500,000 annual subscription fee after that.
Could be ready by spring
The badges, which would be worn in addition to staff’s other ID, could be ready to go and staff trained to use them as early as spring break, said Mark Schmidt, chief of the school district’s police department.
Centegix badges are currently used in Blue Valley and Olathe schools, said Schmidt. USD 232 in De Soto also approved use of Centegix badges last year.
The system uses bluetooth infrastructure and is independent of cellular and Wi-Fi.
The badges are used in conjunction with a digital map of the campus grounds and floor plan, which allows school district dispatchers to immediately see the location of a call for help, Schmidt said.
Camera systems already in use in Shawnee Mission schools will enable security staff to see what the problem is and send appropriate help.
Any staff member can call for help with button press
A staff member must hit the button three times to activate it.
In most cases the respondents might be an administrator, nurse or counselor, Schmidt said.
Eight presses denote a danger serious enough to put the school in lockdown and immediately call for law enforcement or first responders.
Schumacher said district administration will be selective in deciding which staff members will be given clearance to make that kind of call.
Schmidt said the advantage of the alert system is its speed.
Alert buttons get help quicker than the walkie-talkies currently used by some schools, he said.
In incidents like hallway scuffles between students, for example, radios are often back on the classroom desk, unlike alert badges that are worn on a lanyard.
The system can’t track a staff member’s location until the button is pressed. But it does allow the district to collect data about the types of situations that occur in each school, Schumacher said, providing opportunities to better analyze where resources are needed.
