The Tennessee General Assembly last year provoked a change within the Tennessee Department of Education that allows school districts in the Volunteer State to purchase identification badges for teachers which contain buttons to request rapid response from school administrators, a nearby School Resource Officer (SRO), or request an immediate law enforcement response.
Such a system, created by the company Centegix, was in place at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia last Wednesday, when police say 14-year-old Colt Gray committed an attack that claimed the lives of four and injured nine more before he was quickly confronted by armed SROs.
Advocates of the technology reportedly told NBC News the adoption of the “panic alarm system” at Apalachee High School “likely saved countless lives,” as the system allowed educators and staff members to notify police of the situation using their identification badge.
According to the outlet, the badges contain buttons that “will notify authorities about an ‘active situation,'” if repeatedly pressed.
Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) led a successful push to make such technology in Tennessee last year, beginning when he told The Michael Patrick Leahy Show he planned to file legislation that would allow the purchase of similar identification badges.
“So, if you can imagine almost something like a lanyard that a teacher would wear with their ID, with their picture, and the classroom, and it would have three buttons on there,” Pody told Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, in a December 2023 radio appearance.
Pody explained the first button would notify an SRO and school administration, while the second button would immediately begin recording audio and video, which could be used to discipline students.
“But the third one is going to be the most important,” Pody said.
He explained the button would activate a video and audio streaming option that would instantly notify law enforcement of an active shooter.
“So this would go directly to the police department and the police would be able to literally be seeing what is going on in that classroom,” said Pody.
Pody later told The Michael Patrick Leahy Show that his legislation prompted changes to existing policies at the Tennessee Department of Education in order to allow purchases of the identification badge technology without changes to the law.
Since then, at least 15 of Tennessee’s 147 public school districts have adopted the technology, according to WSMV 4, which reported that Nashville Public Schools uses an audio system and is working to bring it to all schools in the district.
While it is unclear how many Tennessee schools use the technology developed by Centegix, which was used at Apalachee High School, the company’s website reported earlier this year that Clinton Elementary School uses its products.
According to WBIR Channel 10, the identification badges by Centegix also come with monitoring technology that sends notifications to certain users which inform them exactly where an emergency was reported.
It was additionally reported by WSMV 4additionally reported schools are able to buy the devices using a $54 million school safety grant created in the aftermath of the Covenant School shooting committed by Audrey Elizabeth Hale on March 27, 2023, but that many schools have already exhausted the money.
Since the attack at Apalachee High School, it was reported alleged shooter Colt Gray suffered from a “broken” home life, and that the alleged shooter received the weapon used during the attack as a Christmas gift from his father just months after an FBI tip about a potential attack on a school prompted local law enforcement to interview members of the Gray family.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Teacher with Centegix Badge” by Centegix.
