Teachers and staff at Tucson Unified School District will have a new tool to help boost school safety next year with a security device aimed at making it quicker to respond to distress.
Whether it’s a school intruder, a broken bone from a fall off the monkey bars or a fight that’s about to break out, staff at all TUSD schools will have the ability to call for help and deploy resources with the simple click of a button.
The new crisis alert technology, Centegix, is a school safety system that equips teachers and staff with a badge featuring a clicker. It will allow them to report emergencies, summon help and alert an entire building quickly and effectively.
The TUSD board voted 5-0 to approve using the technology. Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo called the new safety system a significant advancement in terms of security for staff and students alike.
The Catalina Foothills School District has also voted to integrate Centegix throughout the district.
TUSD Director of School Safety Joe Hallums said he is excited to implement the new tool and has received positive feedback from staff.
When the button on the badge is pressed, the staff member’s location is broadcast immediately, and help is sent. In the case of an intruder, a staff member can press the clicker repeatedly and it will notify the school that there is an imminent threat.
The lights at the school will strobe, a message will take over staff computers identifying that the school is in lockdown, and help will be sent. An intercom message directing the school to enter into lockdown will also be played.
Hallums said providing every staff member with walkie-talkies would be extremely expensive, far more than the $5 million, 5-year contract the district made with Centegix.
“The whole idea is just to keep it really simple,” Hallums said.
While the clickers are beneficial in grave emergencies, they will also help staff dealing with the “99.9%” of other safety situations.
The Centegix site states that nearly all alerts at schools are for everyday emergencies that often require medical or behavioral assistance.
Special education teachers in class with students facing cognitive issues might need assistance in those classrooms more often. Hallums said that help will now arrive swiftly, and without a word being spoken. With a click of a small button, a dangerous situation can be kept from spinning out of control, he said.
The devices will also work on the sports fields and the playgrounds, where accidents are prone to happen. Centegix said that more than half of all school safety incidents occur outside the classrooms and in areas like the hallway, parking lots and sports fields.
“We want to make sure any staff member receives the help they need,” Hallums said. “We want something easy to use that’s been proven.”
The Centegix technology has been credited with saving lives in a deadly school shooting in Georgia in September, where a 14-year-old gunned down and killed two students and two teachers. Nine others were injured.
Centegix said several staff members at the Georgia school initiated the campus lockdown by using their Centegix clickers. Resource officers were able to swiftly find their suspect.
Staff had only been using their new safety features for a week when the shooting occurred.
Tucson Unified School District’s headquarters at 1010 E. 10th St.
