Over the summer, the Monroe County Community School Corporation (MCCSC) school board approved and signed a contract with security system CENTEGIX. This system includes panic buttons for all of Bloomington North and South’s staff and will go live on the first day of school, August 6.
While non-teaching staff in the two high schools have access to two-way handheld radios, most teachers don’t. When faced with an emergency in the hall, for example, teachers would have to either go back to a classroom or send a student to call for help. Rather than purchasing a radio for every teacher, the CENTEGIX badges eliminate that problem by immediately sending an alert to a team ready to respond.
The implementation of the CENTEGIX system is not in response to a specific event, rather it is a proactive measure that teachers at North have requested for a long time according to BHSN Principal Matthew Stark.
“We have monthly safety meetings … and one of the things that staff has said continuously is we don’t all have radios,” Stark said. The CENTEGIX badges address the staffs’ concerns over the lack of radios and provide a more efficient way to seek assistance.
Every staff member will wear a badge with a button that can set off two kinds of alerts. The first alert is a staff alert, which can be used for medical emergencies or more localized incidents and will notify a smaller responder team. The second alert is a school wide lockdown that will consist of a pre-recorded announcement, a pop up on students’ and teachers’ computer screens, and strobe lights throughout the school.
Both alerts will notify a response team that includes Stark, Assistant Principal Scott Bless, school nurses, and school resource officer (SRO) Troy Thomas. The responders will get an alert on their computers and phones via the CENTEGIX app, with the location of the badge press. In the event that a lockdown is called, every SRO in the MCCSC district and local police will be notified. The responder team went through training on Tuesday July 29, and the rest of the staff were trained August 4 and 5.
“I think it’s an added layer of school safety … It just makes the process so much quicker and more efficient,” Bless said.
As the North staff add features to the CENTEGIX app, there are plans for the map to include where the nearest fire extinguisher, AED, Stop the Bleed, and other safety equipment are. Stark said, “In a moment of emergency, even though I’ve walked past it 700 times, I’m like, … ‘Where’s the closest [AED]?’ this will be another point of reference.”
Stark said that with monthly safety meetings with security, Hoosier Hills staff, SROs, along with other staff, North administrators are always looking to improve safety.
