Pierce County Schools will soon have an added safety feature that will allow staff the ability to summon help in an emergency by touching their badges.
School Superintendent Dara Bennett recommended and the board unanimously approved implementing the Centegix system. The action came at the school board’s regular meeting Monday night.
“There is a need to provide our teachers and staff with a push button crisis alert system to enhance the safety of our students and staff,” said Bennett. ‘The Centegix badges will provide us with that safety enhancement.”
The system gives staff members special badges that feature a multi-function button. Depending on how the button is pressed, a teacher could send an alert to the rest of the faculty, to local emergency services, and/or initiate a full school lockdown if necessary. It's also location accurate, allowing administrators and first responders to know where the alert came from down to the specific floor and room number.
The Centegix badges will be in use at all campuses in the school system. All staff members will have a badge.
The school system will pay $237,000 for the Centegix System, but the amount will be prorated over a five year contract. Pierce County Schools will pay a implementation fee of $32,000 this year and $41,000 each year thereafter. Money to pay for the system will come from the general fund.
Bennett explained many other school systems in Georgia have the Centegix system.
The badges can be used to summon help in the event of a school shooting or medical emergency.
State officials have said the badge system saved many lives during a tragic and deadly shooting at Apalachee High School near Atlanta last year.
