LOUDONVILLE — The Loudonville-Perrysville Exempted Village Schools board of education approved a contract Monday with security company Centegix to provide a new alert system for the district.
With the new system, district staff would receive small electronic devices resembling ID badges that can contact a school response team, law enforcement, or put the school on lockdown.
The system will cost the district $138,210 — $20,000 of which will be paid for by a state grant.
Three presses of the button on the badge contacts an internal response team made up of school staff that can respond to incidents quickly. The badge sends out its location when pressed, showing the team where the alert came from.
Loudonville’s incoming superintendent next school year, Jennifer Allerding, has been using Centegix’s alert system at her current district, Galion City Schools, since the start of the year.
She told the board of a recent incident where a student had a seizure, prompting a staff member at Galion to press the button on their badge. The school’s internal response team was there in 30 seconds and the child got to the hospital in 11 minutes, she said.
If a staff member continuously pressed the button, the school would be placed on lockdown and law enforcement would be notified. The school’s PA system, strobe lights, and a chirping alarm would also be activated, Allerding said.
“The one thing that we know in the event of a situation where someone’s coming to campus to harm our kids and harm our staff, time equals body count, right?,” she said.
“We don’t want someone in here causing harm. We wanna get people on scene right away.”
School administrators also have access to a mobile app that can place the school on lockdown, tell students to shelter in place or warn students of a tornado.
The board also approved the purchase of 200 Chromebooks for $70,630 and appointed Zach Brumfield as principal of the R.F. McMullen School for the upcoming school year at its Monday meeting.
