Canon-McMillan set to use new crisis alert system
Saving time saves lives. That’s the idea behind the new technology Canon-McMillan School District staff members are wearing at Canon-McMillan School District.
The school district is outfitting staff members with wearable panic buttons made by Centegix, which will reduce the response time in an emergency, such as a school shooting.
The CrisisAlert button was used by staff during a school shooting last year at Apalachee High School in Georgia, and law enforcement credits the badge with resulting in a quick response and saving lives when a student fatally shot two students and two teachers.
The technology can trigger appropriate and necessary responses based on the situation in a matter of seconds.
All teachers and staff wear the credit card-sized badge, along with their district ID, on a lanyard. On the badge is a button, and depending on the number of times it is pressed, can initiate two types of responses.
The first one is a staff alert, which signals an urgent situation that requires help, such as a medical emergency (an allergic reaction or a seizure, for example), fight, or an injury. The alert notifies personnel such as administrators, nurses, social workers, and school counselors.
The other response – triggered by more clicks – initiates a campus-wide emergency lockdown, and is used in events like an active shooter. In addition to notifying administrators, this alert dispatches police immediately, and leads first responders to the exact location of where the threat is located. It also triggers flashing red lights, installed in all classroom hallways, common areas, and other locations. The alert also takes over screens or monitors and displays a lockdown message, and an alert plays over the PA system to notify everyone in the building.
CrisisAlert also can be used for weather emergencies.
Canon-McMillan will implement the technology in all of its schools, and each teacher, bus driver, cafeteria member and other staff is issued one, said Dr. Gregory Taranto, superintendent.
“Everything happens within seconds, and those seconds matter,” said Taranto. “You’re saving time, and time saves lives. If I’m a teacher, I know as soon as I press that button help is on the way.”
Taranto said the school district ran a final test of the system with Washington County 911 last week, and the results were impressive.
“As soon as the button was hit, in two seconds the entire internal alert system was on, desktop computers had the alert, the strobes were flashing. The response time from notifying 911 and 911 calling to police and then dispatching was 39 seconds. The police were blown away,” said Taranto. “Everyone was pleased and impressed with the response time. And that’s why we want the system in place, because seconds can save lives.”
The technology provides coverage inside and outside of buildings, such as parking lots and athletic fields.
The system gives all district staff the ability to immediately seek help or report something wrong without the need, and delay, of going to a telephone.
All employees are undergoing training on the technology, and staff will be retrained annually.
“We never want to use this system as far as the lockdown component, but we anticipate using the general alert, especially in our bigger buildings, on a regular basis, and it’s going to be a nice tool for rapid alerts. It’s an added layer of safety for our district,” said Taranto.
Taranto said Canon-McMillan is the first school district in Washington County to implement CrisisAlert. The district received a Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency grant to cover the cost of the system.
The district expects to start using the CrisisAlert system within the next two weeks.