By: Owen Lebakken
If you’ve looked up at the ceiling tiles in your classrooms or the hallways recently, you’ve probably noticed some weird white boxes (with a black ring near the top) being installed all over the building.
They aren’t hidden cameras, they aren’t Wi-Fi routers, and they aren’t speakers. Those little rectangles are the visible parts of a major safety upgrade coming to Shaler Area.
The Shaler Area School Board recently approved the adoption of the CENTEGIX CrisisAlert System. According to the official announcement, the technology will be rolled out at SAMS and the High School for next school year.
Here is how the system works and how it handles emergencies.
The Smart Badges: Safety in a few clicks
The main feature of the CENTEGIX system is that it gets rid of the old, slow process of needing to run across a classroom to use a phone or send a student to the office to get help.
Instead, every single teacher and staff member will wear a special electronic badge behind their regular district ID. This badge has a hidden button on it. If an emergency happens, the teacher can click the button multiple times to instantly trigger an alert.
According to the district, the system “empowers teachers to respond to situations as they arrive with targeted, immediate action.”
What do the ceiling boxes do?
Those white boxes on our ceilings are actually signal/locator beacons. They operate on their own private radio network, so even if the schools Wi-Fi goes out they remain working.
When a staff member clicks their badge, it sends a quick signal to the nearest ceiling beacon. Because every beacon is mapped to a digital blueprint of SAMS (or other schools), it instantly pinpoints the exact room or hallway of the incident.
The system immediately texts and alerts the schools response team—including the principals, the dean of students, the school nurse, and our School Resource Officers (SROs)—telling them exactly where to go.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Brian Brown explained that this can be used for everyday issues—not just major threats.
“This could be a student having a medical emergency, a special needs student who needs additional support, a conflict between students, or an active threat,” Dr. Brian said.
The full lockdown takeover
If a major threat occurs and a full school lockdown is triggered, the CENTEGIX system completely takes over the school in a matter of seconds.
- Screen takeover – The system automatically pushes a massive, full-screen alert message to every single smart board and teacher computer screen in the building, instantly informing everyone of the lockdown.
- Flashing Strobes – Colored LED lights on the ceiling beacons will start flashing to give a visual warning, ensuring everyone knows what to do even if the hallways are loud. These are the meanings of the different colors of the beacons:
- Red – (Code Red) Full lockdown. Used when there is an immediate, serious threat to students or staff. Doors are locked and no one moves until escorted by authorities.
- Yellow – (Code Yellow) Soft Lockdown. Used for precautionary security measures when there is a potential concern outside the building. Exterior doors are secured, but normal activities continue inside. This is similar to our current “Secure” protocol.
- Blue – (Code Blue) Severe weather or Shelter in Place. Used for natural disasters or tornado warnings where individuals must shelter indoors.
- Green – (Code Green) Evacuation. Used to signal that occupants must move to a safe, designated location.
- Purple – (Code Purple) Other alert, could be a gas leak, etc.
- White – (Code White) This indicates a Staff Alert. This could be a medical emergency or a student altercation. It alerts nearby administrative/medical teams without putting the whole school into lockdown.
- Intercom Integration – This isn’t guaranteed, but it’s another possible integration. The system could automatically trigger a pre-recorded announcement over the PA system.
By automating all of this, the school doesn’t have to wait for someone in the main office to manually type out an email, or get on the PA.
Zero Cost to the District
The best news for the community is that this massive technology upgrade won’t cost local taxpayers a dime.
The system is being entirely funded by a grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD). The district noted that this is “reflective of the district’s commitment to secure resources to support students while being responsible.”n
So, next time you see one of those blank white rectangles on the ceiling, you know exactly what it is, a new tool to make sure that if anyone at Shaler Area Schools needs help, it arrives in a matter of seconds.
