Center Grove Police Chief Ray Jackson points out the Centegix monitor at the Emergency Operations Center. With the alert system, staff members can make school security aware of crises with the push of a button. Andy Bell-Baltaci | Daily Journal
When an unauthorized visitor entered Center Grove’s Middle School Central last school year, the push of a button was all that was needed to alert school police officers of potential danger.
Craig Smith, the school’s principal, soon discovered the visitor was a construction worker using the bathroom, but the quickness of the response from school security showed the effectiveness of the Centegix alert button. When pressed multiple times, any staff member or administrator can alert school police officers, safety officers and resource officers of possible danger, such as an active shooter, a medical emergency or an altercation, said Ray Jackson, Center Grove’s police chief.
With the system, a sequence of three consecutive button pushes will alert Center Grove’s Emergency Operations Center of a possible altercation or medical emergency, causing first responders to go to the location of the button. Several button pushes in rapid succession, however, will trigger an alert that can then be turned into a lockdown if it is deemed non-accidental, he said.
So far, the button alert system, funded by a $100,000 matching Secured Schools Safety Grant, has been used about 15 times to alert school security of various incidents, including not only potential intruders but medical issues and student altercations, Jackson said.
The quick response via the button alert system puts school leaders at ease, Smith said
“By putting this around our neck, it’s our daily insurance policy. We plan for the worst and hope for the best, but we know in an emergency situation we have insurance within reach by pushing a button,” Smith said. “In the past, we would’ve had to pick up a cell phone and a game of telephone would be played to get a response. Now it comes with the push of a button.”
Center Grove officials learned about the technology at a NASRO, or National Association of School Resource Officers, conference in 2019, after which they discovered they could help pay for it with a school safety grant.
The buttons were distributed to the district’s about 1,100 employees and activated starting last spring. They were fully active throughout all school buildings as students went back to school on Aug. 3. This summer, school police trained staff members about how and when to use the buttons. Center Grove is likely the first school district in Indiana with the safety system, although several schools in Atlanta and Alabama have it in place, said Bill Long, assistant superintendent of operations.
The button makes it easier for staff members to alert school security of not only urgent matters, but the location of a potential crisis, which school police can track at Center Grove’s Emergency Operations Center, Jackson said.
“Once the button is activated, a screen comes up on our end and we see exactly where that person is. If they’re moving or walking, it will track them,” he said. “It gives us a map of the school, their exact location and as we send a school safety officer or SRO, it notifies our police department and we’re able to call and talk and see what’s going on. We’re able to give our officers information before they get there.”
