Carroll County Schools has added another safety tool

Raptor Alert goes thru all mobile devices thru the school system

Carroll County Schools has activated yet another safety measure that allows staff and administrators to communicate in real time through their mobile devices.

Raptor Alert is an enhanced feature in the existing Raptor system that is used every time a visitor enters a Carroll County school. Currently, all visitors must submit their photo ID and it is used to generate a visitor sticker with their photo, name and why they are in the school.

The newest piece was added after enactment of Alyssa’s Law, which requires all school districts to have mobile panic buttons. Raptor Alert allows staff to initiate an evacuation, shelter in place, lockdown or soft lockdown.

“Every staff member in that school will be notified in real time,” explained Carroll County Schools Director of Pupil Personnel and Chief Operations Officer Mark Willhoite. A foghorn sound followed by a voice message will override any locked mobile device and the alert will be sent at the highest volume setting on cell phones and staff will also get an email and text message regarding the alert.

Once an alert is activated, staff members are asked to identify their location and their safety status. Teacher rosters are loaded into the app so all teachers can easily and quickly account for their students. In addition, it includes a full school directory so anyone who is in a classroom but not on that class roster can be marked safe by a teacher.

Once the alert is started, it asks if you want to call or text 911 and all school resources officers are notified, regardless of school.

If the schools had to be evacuated, the district has Raptor Reunification. Raptor Alert will streamline that process as greeters, runners and reunifiers can quickly identify the proper parent/guardian for each child electronically. In the past, reunification with parents was done by shuffling through papers to find the right child and verifying parent information.

“I’m really pleased with it,” Willhoite said. “I hope we’ll never have to use Raptor Reunification, but we must be prepared in the event an emergency arises that creates the need.”