KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Blue Valley School District plans to introduce students, staff, teachers and others to a new security measure when classes resume Wednesday.
The district has installed CrisisAlert, a system that advertises the ability for all staff members to initiate a call for help with a push of a button on a specialized badge.
Staff went through final training on Tuesday.
“This is another layer of security allowing all of our employees in the building to signal that they are in a crisis and that they need help,” Blue Valley School District Superintendent Tonya Merrigan said Tuesday.
The technology alerts building officials to medical and student emergencies, as well as other incidents. The touch of the button would allow officials to initiate a campus-wide lockdown. Because the badges are connected, the press of the button allows the badge to send along the exact location of the staff member.
Merrigan says any staffer has the ability to instantly initiate a building lockdown with the technology.
The service is the same system implemented last fall by the Olathe School District. The district implemented the system as part of its review of a shooting involving a student and two administrators last March at Olathe East High School.
The Shawnee Mission School District allocated more than $250,000 last fall for security enhancements in the district.
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