- May 5, 2024
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Flagler Schools teachers and staff are now able to click a button on a wearable badge to alert responders to an emergency or even lock down the school.
The district switched vendors this year to comply with Allyssa’s Law, named after a victim of the 2018 Parkland school shooting. The law required all Florida public schools and charters to implement an advanced mobile panic alert system by the 2021-22 school year.
Flagler Schools has switched to the CENTEGIX Safety Platform. The system enables all school staff to silently contact law enforcement in the case of an on-campus threat or crisis.
The CENTEGIX platform has been installed in all nine district schools. The company has trained all school-based administrators, who in turn have trained their personnel.
At an Oct. 17 School Board workshop, Tommy Wooleyhan, the district’s safety coordinator, told board members that 1,500 crisis alert wearable badges have been sent out to school employees. He said an additional 150 badges were requested for personnel who visit the schools regularly.
If there is a medical emergency or physical disturbance, anyone with a badge anywhere on campus can click the button three times, and designated school responders will be automatically directed to the scene. In the case of an extreme emergency such as an active shooting, a staffer would press the button repeatedly, which would initiate a hard lockdown of the school, activate CENTEGIX alarms throughout campus and summon law enforcement.
“(Flagler County Sheriff’s Office) road deputies will receive the alert through 911, and the cavalry’s coming,” Wooleyhan said.
The system does not require cell phone service, Wooleyhan added.
The platform’s implementation has been funded by the county’s half-cent sales tax.
Currently, one third of Florida’s school districts, including Volusia, use the CENTEGIX platform.
Imagine School at Town Center, Flagler County’s only charter school, has also switched to CENTEGIX, Wooleyhan said.
