NORTH STRABANE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A security alert system that is credited for saving numerous lives in a Georgia school shooting is now active in the Canon McMillan School District.
“We are continuing to be proactive in our planning and preparation for a situation we hope to never have to utilize,” Deputy Superintendent Scott Chambers said.
The Centegix Security ID badge acts as a panic button. It hangs on the back of every staff member in the district’s ID badge for easy access in case of an emergency.
If anyone on Canon McMillan’s staff feels that they are in danger, they can click their badge. That will then alert the police and administrators on a map.
The alert will also show up on every computer screen campus-wide, and trigger lights and alerts on the inside and outside school buildings.
School Resource Officer Michael Lukanski said the map is a useful tool for first responders.
“One of the things that gets overlooked is who’s calling for help because they’re asked to do so many other things,” Lukanski said. “They are responsible for so many other students. So, when you can get help rolling just with the click of a button, it has the potential to save a lot of lives.”
Canon McMillan got a state grant to pay for the upgrade. And it’s not the first district in our area to get it. Plum introduced the same security system last summer.
Superintendent Greg Taranto said he heard about how the system helped save lives when a gunman opened fire at Apalachee High School in Georgia, killing four people.
“After reading about it and hearing from a teacher and a parent, I walked over to Dr. Chambers’s office and who writes our safety grants and said ‘hey, let’s check the system out’ and we started doing the research and here we are,” he said.
“I think it’s on every educator’s mind,” said 7th grade teacher, Mindy Wright. “I wasn’t aware of any sort of program like this. So, in a way, it was like a pleasant surprise. I think it is something that you didn’t know you needed and now it does provide a lot of peace of mind.”
Canon McMillan is now the first school district in Washington County to implement the Centegix security system into all of its buildings.
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