CLINTON, Tenn. (WATE) — The Anderson County school system has put new preventative measures in place to combat the threat of gun violence at schools, including the implementation of the Rave Panic Button Emergency App to streamline how calls for any emergency get made.
“Next semester, we are beginning the implementation of, right now as we speak, is what’s called the Rave app,” said Anderson County Schools Director of Communications Ryan Sutton. “It’s an app that is user-based on our teachers that will go on their cell phones, because no one goes anywhere without their cell phones any more, as well as its geofenced. If I and a school employee are at one of our schools, I have five choices of alerts that I can give from my phone.”
Those alerts or alarm types include; an intruder alert that alerts authorities when the issue is in the school, which phone it came from, and where that phone is at the time the alert was triggered. Teachers and staff can also call for a medical alert, fire, other police necessity and an other option that could vary by grade level. The app does something more than what the safety lanyards do at some schools.
“Where this is more powerful than those necklaces or lanyards you’ve seen in other schools is it offers that two-way communication automatically,” Sutton said. “If I’m the person that gave the alert and then I’m the person that received the alert and I see that the intruder is in the west wing of the building, I can enter that in the chat. Anyone that’s on that Geofenced campus with those rights, meaning their GPS location, will begin to get those types of messages including our dispatch at 911.”
All this new technology joins existing safety technology within the school system to ensure its students and faculty are protected.
“As far as safety and security, it’s always evolving. If you’re not, then you’re not adapting to the new things that you know and you’re not doing a great job at that,” Sutton said. “In emergency situations, seconds do matter. I know that sounds cliché but getting to those emergency events the most quickly that we can, can mean the difference between life and death.”
Sutton said in addition to all of that new technology they are implementing, there are a lot of cameras throughout the school in the district. If any emergency event were to happen in an Anderson County school, the 911 center has the ability to access any of the schools cameras to get a live view of what’s happening inside the school.
Sutton told 6 News they rely heavily on word of mouth if someone who is supposed to be in the school brings a weapon into the school building. He added they have been fortunate in Anderson County that the students have identified what could be a potential problem and that the school system has been able to ward off some of those potential problems.
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