WRAL Investigates: New high-tech safety tool coming to NC schools

The newly-signed state budget allocates $4.4 million to put panic alarms in North Carolina middle and high schools, but as of now, not elementary schools.

Posted 10:00 p.m. Aug 1, 2022 — Updated 11:36 a.m. Aug 2, 2022

Cullen Browder

, WRAL anchor/reporter

The headlines are heartbreaking, sickening and too frequent. Towns like Columbine, Newtown, Parkland and Uvalde – normally quiet places most Americans never heard of – until massacres took place at local schools.

In 2021, marketing research company Ombdia estimated schools spent more than $3 billion on school security. North Carolina lawmakers are now adding millions to that total to add another layer of high-tech security to the state's schools.

The newly-signed state budget allocates $4.4 million to put panic alarms in North Carolina middle and high schools, but as of now, not elementary schools.

WRAL Investigates went to a local school system that already implemented a panic button program to see how it works.

"We certainly always want to make sure that we can do everything to keep our students and our staff safe," says Hoke County Schools Assistant Superintendent Dr. Dawn Ramseur. "We do have a plan. We practice that plan. We're ready to implement that plan. We hope we never have to."

Hoke County Schools first started using the panic button in 2018 and tailored it to their needs.

"When we set this app up we say who is notified," Ramseur said.

While the state hasn't chosen a statewide vendor yet, Hoke County uses the RAVE app. It allows all school employees to hit a button on their cell phone to activate a response to anything from a student allergic reaction, fire, suspicious person on campus to an active shooter.

"There's no question, there's no waiting, there's no explaining, it happens immediately," Ramseur said.

The app has been activated by school employees, but most of those incidents were medical in nature. However, she added the school system does a lot of drills with the panic button.

At least twice a year, Hoke County Schools practice using the app, during active shooter and other drills, to coordinate communication and response among school staff, EMS and law enforcement if needed.

"The importance of that is the make sure that not just they are receiving that information, but our staff members are receiving it as well, everybody from teachers to central office," said Dr. Chad Hunt, another assistant superintendent with the system.

The question many asked is: Why not just call 911?

Greg Artzt, the Chief Executive Officer of Punch Technologies out of Charlotte has the answer.

"You might be on the phone with 911 for several minutes and if you don't have time to tell someone on site what's going on, then they can't lock down that building, they can't evacuate that building," Artzt said.

Punch serves schools and agencies across the country with cloud-based alert systems. Punch Alert has been used to coordinate lockdowns and response to shooters, medical emergencies, even missing children. The texts, emails, calls and action plans are documented in a report.

"That kind of allows you to look back whether it was a drill or real incident and say, 'Here's what happened on that day,' and if you can measure it, you can manage it," Artzt said.

Those who use the panic button say it's an important tool for school safety, but just one tool.

"I think it's just another layer," Ramseur said.

The panic button complements school resource officers, cameras, and locked doors, but isn't foolproof. Areas with poor cell service or schools with bad Wi-Fi may not get the most of the technology.

WRAL Investigates found one example where a panic button likely stopped a school shooting in Arkansas. A student told a teacher about a classmate who had a gun. The teacher hit the panic button, immediately locking down the school. Within minutes, the student was in custody and the weapon was seized.

While panic buttons won't prevent all school shootings, they can help save lives with time.

"Nobody can say it's never going to happen," Ramseur said. "We can't, but what we say is we're prepared."

The state budget also includes $220,000 in recurring funds for upkeep on the system once education officials select a vendor. The bid deadline is Aug. 18, 2022. The goal is have the panic system up and running by Jan. 15, 2023.

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