Ohio School Safety: Staff required to wear panic buttons under new bill

CANAL WINCHESTER, Ohio – Staff at all public and private schools in Ohio should wear silent panic buttons that can alert local law enforcement of problems, including mass shootings, under ‘a new bill from the Ohio Senate.

Senate Bill 313 is known as Alyssa’s Law, named after Alyssa Alhadeff, a victim of the 2018 mass shooting at a school in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people died.

The state would spend $25 million to purchase the systems, which should be in place by the 2025-2026 school year, Republican Sen. Michele Reynolds, the bill’s sponsor, said at a news conference Monday afternoon at his suburban high school. Hometown of Columbus. She was accompanied by Lori Alhadeff, Alyssa’s mother, who worked to pass the bill in seven other states.

“No child should fear for their life in the classroom,” Reynolds said. “No teacher should be a human shield.”

Polls have shown that Ohioans support some gun control measures to stop mass shootings. However, the GOP-controlled Legislature has only loosened gun restrictions in recent years, including allowing open carry across the state. When local governments tried to pass their own gun control laws, the state beat them to the punch.

Reynolds said she prefers Alyssa’s Law to gun control.

“This approach aligns with our values of local empowerment and practical problem solving,” she said. “We are not creating new bureaucracies or violating constitutional rights.”

New Jersey, New York, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Oklahoma and Florida have adopted Alyssa’s Law. In the nation’s most recent school shooting, at Apalachee High School in Georgia, the school had just implemented silent panic alert technology, separate from Alyssa’s Law. Two students and two teachers died, but law enforcement credited the system for a quick response that likely prevented more deaths.

During the Parkland shooting, Alhadeff said she was texting Alyssa after she was shot.

“I told Alyssa to run and hide, this help was on the way,” Lori Alhadeff said. “And unfortunately, at this critical time, help has not arrived quickly enough. In principle, Alyssa’s law is simple: time equals life.

By not worrying about calling 911, staff can focus on locking down the school and moving students to a safe location, she said.

Badge Example – Alyssa’s Law — An example of a badge made by Centegix, one of the companies that sells wearable panic alert systems. The button that school employees would press is at the top center.Laura Hancock/cleveland.com

There are several systems on the market. They are often integrated into employee badges. If a teacher presses the button multiple times — with the Centegix badge model shown at Monday’s news conference, that’s eight times — local law enforcement is contacted and the building is locked down.

If a school employee presses the button less often (with Centegix, it’s three times), the system indicates a less serious problem, such as a student needing help with a medical problem. Instead of connecting to local law enforcement, the alert is sent to the administration and school resource officer.

“We need to get our children and our teachers to safety as quickly as possible and reduce the response time of our first responders,” said Lori Alhadeff, who is also president of the Broward County School Board, the sixth largest in the country. .

Reynolds introduced the bill on September 10. Both chambers are on recess and will not return to Columbus until after the Nov. 5 election. She said she has not yet had a chance to speak to legislative leaders and colleagues about her bill. Overall, making schools safer is a priority of the Republican caucus that controls the Senate, she said.

Laura Hancock covers state government and politics for The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com.