PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — This week, Pinellas County Schools approved a plan to bring new safety technology to every classroom.
District leaders said the district is now investing roughly $3.8 million in wearable crisis alert badges for teachers and staff.
“It’s painful to think about those mothers who send their kids to school, and then the kids don’t come back home,” said Rosabelle Chism, who has a student in the Pinellas County School District.
Chism can’t imagine what it would be like to get notified about a shooting at her son’s school.
“I can’t even….I mean, you hear about it, and then you don’t want to watch the news again and see it again because it’s painful,” said Chism.
But now, with a click of a button, Chism feels more at ease.
‘More lives will be saved,” said Chism.
Sean Jowell, School Safety Specialist, said the school district is now getting wearable crisis alert badges.
‘It’s unfortunate that we’ve gotten to this position, but it is the reality of today,” said Jowell.
District leaders said the point of the new technology is for teachers to be able to contact emergency crews with a click of a button instead of going through their phones.
“If something does happen and stress starts to elevate, you know it’s right here and they can click on it that amount of times that we choose for it,” said Jowell.
The badge will be worn on staff lanyards, and if the button is pressed, it will immediately notify district police, law enforcement, and other emergency crews.
“We want it to be as safe as possible…and if something does unfortunately happen, we can act quickly, safely we can get our kids, our staff to safety,” said Jowell.
Teachers and staff will be trained on the alert system over the Summer, and the badges will be issued at the beginning of next school year.
Chism said the new technology will make a difference.
“Knowing that, it’s not going to be the same thing when I see my kid leaving here in the morning and going to school… the chance that he is coming back home is greater,” said Chism.
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