I don’t think a cell phone is much of a solution here, unless there is something else than texting. You’re just not under the same pressure in the story about the superintendent. A 3 minute response time is too long by a factor of 36.
The principal pointed out that radios are attractive to steal, and the teachers won’t carry them all the time. It seems to me that someone must make a device that lets workers hit a crash stop button that then notifies all the same devices on the wifi network, or mesh networks together and has the notification hop from one device to the next.
I was going to suggest a medical alert type device as well. A brief Google search led me to this article (ad?) that talks about a similar school for school security.
No device will meet your needs unless your team choose to carry it, and commit to the changes they need to make.
My suggestion at that point is that you continue to look at all possible solutions, and then write up a grid of positives and negatives for each. Don’t rule anything out yet. Once you have a solid grid, with a good list of important variables plotted in (cost, ease of use, time to notify, time to implement), then re-convene your decision makers and have a discussion. Nothing will be perfect. Solve for the best choice you can make under your current constraints. It sounds to me like you’re looking at solutions consecutively right now, and perhaps not with the entire team. Look at them side by side, and with input from everyone, and you’ll have a better picture.
Cheapest would probably be a bunch of Alexa dots or Google Minis. They both have intercom capability (even through a smartphone). Of course, since they are voice activated, you have a greater chance of mischief making by students.
No, you can set the name to be something other than Alexa. You can also set a skill to only react to a random phrase such as “walnut-ostrich-sandwich”.
It’s pretty impressive what you can do with them.
Good point about Alexa, but the problem is that someone forgot to tell the sub the pass phrase, or the sub forgot, or the sub told some kid and it got all over school. Then there’s the consideration if having an active listening thing running at all times is a situation you can sell to the parents. I know the kids don’t legally have an expectation of privacy at school except in the restrooms, but I think a button in the disaster plastic folder thing is a better solution. I just can’t find that thing that does this.
Along the lines of Alexa and the ‘help I’ve fallen’ buttons, would be to use the Amazon Dash buttons. I’ve read about people getting them, but not registering it for a product (or with Amazon at all). They then set up a packet sniffer to watch for network activity from it and the output from the packet sniffer would be used to trigger whatever they wanted it to trigger.
This would take some programming and more network skills than I have, but it could be a viable option. Put one or two in each room so a button press can set off the alarm. The logistics of keeping it in reach of people that need to be able to use it and out of reach from people that shouldn’t use it is a separate issue.
Considering the entire school has good wifi coverage (and possible an actual wired jack) there’s got to be a solution available. The problem is, I’m guessing, many of the dedicated ‘emergency’ systems of designed to be robust, and you’re paying for that.
The trouble with the smartphone solution is the day that you have 5 subs, and some of them have flip phones or no phone, and even then you have to get them to install this app, and one of them messed it up, plus the teachers who just turn off their phones during school hours. It would be much better to have an unobtrusive device that just stays in the room and is obvious how to use.
And if you are strapped for cash you can make body armor out of phone books! Level III-ish* capability if you add a ceramic floor tile from home depot to the front!
*stops 4 out of 5 rounds, every other time!
My point is that security measures that are intended to be lifesaving need to be reliable. Wifi is mediocre. It is not cheap to engineer a reliable solution, bodging together some arduinos may “work” but it will not meet any remotely reasonable standards for reliability.
In general, to engineer something that passes reasonably recognized standards is going to cost you far more than just buying a solution from a company that sells to many clients.
Complex devices like smartphones and alexas add many, many failure points. This is why an actual panic button, wired to phone cable and using actual switches, is the only reliable way, though a well engineered wireless solution can be almost as good.
Re: Alexa dots. There are work arounds to the items you bring up: you can tape the phrase to the bottom. If it’s discovered, it’s easily changed. If it’s kept in a drawer, I’m not sure how active it can listen.
Re: phones. The school can have older phones set up for subs to use. A used iPhone 6 is cheap now and suitable for this use.
Re: Button. What if the battery died and nobody checked? What if a sub left it and a student took it for laughs? What if the WiFi is down or doesn’t work well in a certain area? What if a sub panics and doesn’t think straight?
In the end, a hard wired system is the best way because it’s the only reliable way.