JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Many lives were saved with the push of a button.
That's the message the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is sending following the tragic and deadly shooting at Apalachee High School near Atlanta earlier this week. According to GBI, just last month the school implemented a system where teachers can alert the authorities of an issue by pressing their ID badge. Some schools near Jacksonville already utilize that technology.
School administrators and law enforcement echo the same phrase: time is of the essence during an active shooter situation. Schools in Duval and St. Johns counties have already given teachers the ability to notice law enforcement instantly.
No matter where a school shooting occurs in the country, officials in St. Johns County take a closer look at their own system.
"What do we do with our planning, operations plans, our drills, educational pieces," said Paul Abbatinozzi, the St. Johns County school district associate superintendent for Sstudent support services. "We really start to look at everything we do."
That planning took a big leap more than 2 years ago when the district started using Centegix badges.
"We've always kept our foot on the gas with regards to safety and security, it's always been a top priority for us," said Abbatinozzi.
Every staff member in St. Johns County schools has a Centegix badge as part of their ID.
"When this is initiated it gives audio messages, strobe lights, a computer takeover with an all call component, it notifies our sheriff's department," said Abbatinozzi as he showed off his own Centegix badge.
Eight pushes of the button locks down the school and instantly alerts the sheriff's department about an imminent threat. 3 pushes sends a message to just school and district staff about things like medical emergencies. The system is also very interactive.
"This pulls up a map and it integrates with our sheriff's department and you can see where this is initiated on the school map, it's highlighted with the red symbol," said Abbatinozzi.
Duval Public Schools also use Centegix and here is a link to a district blog post from last year when the district announced the implementation of the Centegix security system: https://www.teamduval.org/2023/06/26/new-badge-based-emergency-alert-system-being-implemented-in-duval-schools/.
Duval Public Schools said Centegix is just one of multiple safety measures they have in place to keep people safe at school, further reading about safety in Duval schools can be found here: https://www.teamduval.org/2024/08/09/a-look-at-team-duval-safety-and-security-measures/.
This year Clay secondary schools will operate with a similar program through the SAFE System, you can learn more about the SAFE System here: https://audioenhancement.com/safe/
School safety is not restricted to school staff, every person in Florida is able to contribute to school safety by alerting authorities of issues through Fortify Florida, more information about that reporting service can be found here.
Back in St. Johns County, strobe lights that would light up if the Centegix badge was activated can be seen in every classroom and hallway of every school in the district.
"It's an incredible safety enhancement for us and it's just another thing that was the right direction for us as a school district and it gives everybody on staff the opportunity to lock our schools down," said Abbatinozzi.
Every district takes their own approach to safety. For example, in Putnam County some teachers are trained through the Putnam County Sheriff's Department to carry firearms in school through the Guardian Program.