NEW ALBANY, Ohio — Across the nation, school safety is a priority for many communities.
The New Albany-Plain Local School District is adding new safety measures to better respond in an emergency.
The school district is working with the incident response safety company, Centegix, to add their crisis alert system.
Each staff member will wear a badge on their lanyard and in the event of an emergency, they can press the button on their badge to signal a full school lockdown.
Once the badge is pressed, an alarm sounds alerting staff and students of the emergency.
Staff computers will then immediately show the location of the emergency or threat.
“We are living in a time where threats are made at school and we need to be able to respond quickly,” said Early Learning Center principal Michelle Levero.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, this same technology was used in Apalachee High School where a 14-year-old student shot and killed four people.
Local leaders believe this technology saved lives.
Looking to reduce possible tragedies, each building in the district will have the new technology.
“There’s a big level of trust that we have with our staff. Not only are they to keep students safe but also to call a lockdown. We have to make sure we are taking care of our badges, that we are aware of where they are at all times,” said Assistant Superintendent Ken Kraemer.
Levero added that these safety measures are incredibly relevant.
“We’ve had more questions over the last several years than we’ve ever had in my 30 years in education where one of the first questions parents ask me is what safety protocols are in place,” she said.
The school district is hopeful to have the technology up and running and completely implemented in the next two weeks.