For more than a year, Missouri has offered public schools a mobile emergency alert app that can quickly notify staff and 911 when help is needed. Mike O’Connell, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, told Missourinet that nearly 300 of Missouri’s more than 500 public school districts are using or will soon be using the silent notification tool.
“Over half of the state’s 20 largest school districts use it, as do charter schools and some smaller districts. The fact that 42% use this app can be a little misleading. There are some schools that already had their own apps similar to this one,” he said.
In other words, probably more than 42% of schools in Missouri use such an app.
“We know that in the school districts and schools where it was in place, it was used for at least 20 student behavior alerts that can be issued through the teacher assistance feature. We know that it was used in 71 actual emergencies of some kind where it was at least 10 minutes,” O’Connell said. “Or it could be that they were evacuating because of a fire. Or it could be that they were taking cover because of a weather warning.”
For example, SECURE could be called upon to alert the school and instruct them to keep students and staff at school if a nearby gas station is robbed and a suspect is at large.
LOCKDOWN could be activated if there is a school shooting.
EVACUATE could, for example, be used in the event of a fire.
SHELTER is designed for incidents such as a tornado or an earthquake.
HOLD could be used to hold students in a classroom.
The software provides first responders, police officers and campus staff with details such as location-based information and maps of the school grounds within seconds.
In the last school year, the system was also used 751 times for exercises.
“Practice makes perfect. Practice may not seem that important, but training prepares us for a real emergency,” O’Connell said. “The idea of using this app to practice so that everyone knows their role, even the children in a school, is extremely important.”
According to O’Connell, the app can be used by school staff on a mobile phone or computer.
“Some school districts have chosen to incorporate it into their public address system,” he said. “One of the nice features of it is that if you use it to call 911, you can talk to the person at the 911 number or just text it and it will stay silent.”
The cost to the state of providing this tool to Missouri public schools is approximately $1 million annually.
“Schools are where our most valuable resources live, our children. So as a governor’s initiative, we wanted to do everything we could to protect the children in that environment,” he said. “So the idea is, the faster we notify emergency responders about the problem at the school and the nature of the problem, the better they can respond.”
Schools can register or get more information by clicking here.
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