It is said that a new gadget prevented fatalities during this week’s Georgia school massacre.
There are seven states that permit school systems to purchase these gadgets, including Tennessee. The one used in the Apalachee High School shooting resembles a white card that teachers can wear on a lanyard and has a button on the back.
Georgian law police and school administrators are appreciative with what they accomplished after the school only received them approximately a week ago.
Teachers punched the button a predetermined number of times after realizing there was a threat at Apalachee. Law enforcement was immediately notified and knew exactly where to respond as a result.
According to Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith, the gunman was taken into custody in six minutes.
The executive director and CEO of Professional Educators of Tennessee, JC Bowman, stated that “every minute counts in an emergency.”
He stated that the $54 million school safety grant from the Covenant School shooting can be used by Tennessee school districts to purchase wearable teacher alert devices.
All schools ought to learn from the Georgia shooting, according to Bowman.
“They were able to notify them fast, get people made aware of it, and those SROs got down there,” he continued. “Those two factors alone saved countless lives.”
“There’s no teacher that has to do this, there’s nothing in here that’s mandatory,” Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) stated. “It’s just optional.”
It was during the legislative session earlier this year when Sen. Pody advocated for the use of technology in classrooms. Since then, teachers have been able to alert the school administration of threats and dangers by using an audio system in Metro Nashville Public Schools. The goal is to have that in every school.
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Bowman stated that he hopes legislators would keep pushing for investments to save lives during the upcoming legislative session.
“We are going to have to spend more money on school safety and that’s always my fear is people are going to get tired of spending money on it,” he continued.
Certain school districts have already utilized the funds from their school safety grants. They are hoping that Governor Lee would provide them more funds in the upcoming session so they can purchase the equipment.
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