PHOENIX — Time is of the essence in certain situations, and this school year, Arizona’s largest high school district just rolled out a new safety feature.
All staff members in the Phoenix Union High School District now have Centegix Crisis Alert badges. Worn alongside their district ID, the badge has a button staff must press three times to call for help in any emergency.
Once a staff member triggers the system, an alert goes to administrative staff at the school campus, popping up a map and showing a user where the alert was triggered and by whom. Whoever responds to that staff member first, they can alert others of what’s going on and decide where to go from there, including calling for law enforcement or emergency medical services.
“The idea of a wearable, something that you wear around your neck, something that you have access to no matter where you are, eliminates delays in response,” said Roderick Sams, the chief development officer at Centegix.
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When ABC15 asked the district why it’s rolling out this system now, Vanessa Casillas, the director of site safety, health services and emergency management for the district, said they are continuing to look at adding more layers of safety to their campuses.
“We felt it was needed because things don't always just happen in the classroom. You’re not always near a phone to make those calls. This makes it easier and gives everybody the ability to be able to let you know there’s something going on no matter where you are,” she said.
Just last school year, a Maryvale High School student died after a stabbing on campus. The suspect is still going through the court system.
Since rolling out the Crisis Alert badge, the district has had campuses that needed to use it. Daniel Garcia, the principal at the Academies at South Mountain, said staff have pushed the button a few times for medical emergencies.
“It’s a huge benefit to us and our campus. I know when we rolled it out to staff, some of the staff were just like, ‘Oh, my God, this is awesome.’ They don’t have to be near their phones [to call for help],” Garcia said.
Staff can trigger the system anywhere on campus: classrooms, hallways, parking lots and even the football field. It can also track the person in real time.
“You push it, and say you're chasing somebody, it's going to follow you for 60 seconds, you can push it again and it'll follow you for another 60 seconds,” Casillas explained.
The system cost the district around $440,000 to start, and they will be paying about $250,000 for the following years after that. The district is paying for it through capital funding.
While the district’s current system triggers alerts to administrative staff and their safety teams, a spokesperson said they are considering using it to trigger alerts to law enforcement, as it is an option that can be done through Centegix.
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