Hutto ISD adds high-tech security district wide

National Emergency Preparedness Month: Hutto ISD

Throughout the school year school districts partner with local law enforcement to ensure students and staff stay safe. FOX 7 Austin's Jessica Rivera has a look at what one district is doing to keep students safe.

HUTTO, Texas - Throughout the school year, school districts partner with local law enforcement to ensure students and staff stay safe.

What they're saying:

September is National Emergency Preparedness Month.

Hutto Independent School District says it is ready, and it has invested in high-tech security. Every staff member is equipped with a safety badge that can instantly alert authorities and trigger a campus-wide response at the push of a button.

"We try to take our drills as seriously as possible," says Chris Contreras, Hutto ISD safety and security specialist.

Safety is a major priority for Hutto ISD. Every month the district works closely with Williamson County emergency agencies to ensure their training is updated.

"If we do drills at the Hutto High School, we can have up to about 30 to 40 police officers from around the area that come and do the drills," says Contreras. 

Dig deeper:

This school year, schools across the state are required to implement Alyssa's Law. Alyssa’s Law is critical legislation that addresses the issue of law enforcement response time when a life-threatening emergency occurs because time equals life. The law calls for the installation of silent panic alarms that are directly linked to law enforcement, ensuring that in any case of an emergency, officers can get on scene as quickly as possible to neutralize the threat and triage any victims.

"The standard response protocol was created by the "I Love U Guys" Foundation, whose daughter was passed away in a school shooting. The last text message she sent was, 'I love you guys'. Standard Response Protocol. It's five procedures: hold, secure, lockdown, evacuation, shelter," Contreras says.

The SRP uses four simple actions and standardized vocabulary so students, staff, parents, and first responders are aligned in how to respond to any emergency.

Hutto ISD practices these drills at least once a month. The district says this helps students familiarize themselves with what to do if there's an emergency.

This school year, Hutto ISD invested in Centegix technology, which equips every staff member with a safety badge that can instantly alert authorities and trigger a campus-wide response at the push of a button.

Contreras invited FOX 7 Austin over to show us first hand how it works.

"Every staff member in the district has one of these, it's two options that we have is a staff alert and then a lockdown button procedure," says Contreras.

Contreras says this extra layer of security ensures rapid response when every second matters.

"Here it's telling us exactly who pressed it, where exactly they are in the building, precise location, my name, and it's tellin' us there's a staff alert," says Contreras.

Hutto ISD tested out the silent panic buttons last year at one campus and is now expanding all across the district. But safety doesn't just stop there.

"We've also added a lot of security personnel in the passage of HB 3, so we have armed security presence now on every campus in the means of a police officer from elementary schools and middle schools and high schools," says William Edwards, Hutto ISD Police Chief.

What you can do:

Hutto ISD wants to remind parents to update their contact information and follow the official school district social media pages that way they can get alerted immediately in the case of an emergency.