CENTEGIX | Education
New Jersey School Safety Standards
CENTEGIX | Education
New Jersey School Safety Standards
Alyssa’s Law in New Jersey: NJ A764
Signed by Governor Phil Murphy on Feb. 6, 2019, NJ A764, also known as Alyssa’s Law, requires all New Jersey public schools to install silent panic alarms that will alert law enforcement during emergencies to life-threatening and emergency events, including active shooters, evacuations, and lockdowns.
Named for Alyssa Alhadeff, one of seventeen students killed on February 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Alyssa’s Law is bipartisan legislation that aims to improve law enforcement response time to a life-threatening emergency.
“Alyssa’s death is a stark reminder of the dangers of gun violence and the need for adequate school security measures,” said Governor Murphy. “In New Jersey, we will do everything in our power to prevent these tragedies from occurring within our borders.”
What is a Silent Panic Alarm?
NJ A764 defines “panic alarms” as “a silent security system signal generated by the manual activation of a device intended to signal a life-threatening or emergency situation requiring a response from law enforcement.”
Silent panic alarm systems that can be triggered discreetly, such as a wearable panic button, fulfill this requirement. New Jersey is helping to lead the way in school safety by mandating schools have the tools they need to keep students safe without disrupting the learning environment.
Achieving Alyssa’s Law Compliance with CrisisAlert™
CrisisAlert technology improves communication with first responders, empowers staff members to request assistance, and makes school buildings safer. The CENTEGIX CrisisAlert safety solution fulfills the purpose of Alyssa’s Law: to decrease response times in emergency situations, thereby saving lives and creating a culture of safety in schools.
CENTEGIX CrisisAlert enables New Jersey school districts to meet the NJ A764 Alyssa’s Law requirement that schools be equipped with a silent panic alarm system that immediately connects with law enforcement during a life-threatening emergency. The following capabilities make CENTEGIX CrisisAlert an effective New Jersey school safety solution:
Reliable technology
No Wi-Fi or cellular connectivity is required.
Real-time coordination
Real-time coordination among multiple first responder agencies, including county, local, and on-site responders.
Immediate connection
Enables immediate connection to diverse emergency service technologies.
Precise location
First responder get precise location information down to the floor and room level.
100% staff adoption
Teachers need not download an app to initiate an alert.
Local integrations
Integration with local public safety answering points to transmit 911 calls and mobile activations.
Funding for New Jersey School Safety Solutions
Securing Our Children’s Future Bond Act
In 2022, Governor Murphy signed legislation that allocated over $5 million in funds from the Securing Our Children’s Future Bond Act for school security projects. The funding is to be used for school security upgrades, including the installation of silent panic alarms directly linked to law enforcement during an emergency as required by Alyssa’s Law.
“The safety and well-being of students and educators across our state is one of our top priorities. By investing in school security, we are also investing in healthy and safe learning environments,” said Governor Murphy. “This funding will help many schools make necessary security enhancements to their facilities.”
Learn more here.
Stronger Connections Grant
In late 2022, the U.S. Department of Education announced nearly $1 billion in awards through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) in the form of Stronger Connections grants. Through the BSCA, Congress awarded $1 billion in funding to state educational agencies (SEAs) to develop state grant programs to give students safer and healthier learning environments. The BSCA specifies that SEAs must award these funds competitively to high-need LEAs, as determined by the state. In FY23, New Jersey was awarded $20,696,495 through this program.
According to the NJDOE, New Jersey schools should spend Stronger Connections Grant Program funds for:
- Implementing comprehensive, evidence-based strategies that meet each student’s social, emotional, physical, and mental well-being needs; creating positive, inclusive, and supportive school environments; and increasing access to place-based interventions and services; and
- Engaging students, families, educators, staff, and community organizations in the selection and implementation of evidence-based strategies and interventions to create safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environments; and/or
- Designing and implementing policies and practices that advance equity and are responsive to underserved students, protect student rights, and demonstrate respect for student dignity and potential.
Funding could be for infrastructure-related security equipment, implementation of high-quality emergency operating plans and emergency drills, and other related efforts to create a positive and supportive climate in New Jersey schools.
ESSR Funds
As part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds were made available to address the pandemic’s impact on student safety and mental well-being. As of August 30, 2023, New Jersey has been awarded $4,273,585,577 and has spent 54.7% of the funds awarded to the state.
For the first round of ESSER grants, the state was allocated $292,252,986. The deadline to obligate those funds was Sept. 30, 2022. For the second round of ESSER grants, the state was allocated $1,219,910,288 and it must be obligated by Sept. 30, 2023.
Additional funding was made available through the American Rescue Plan. New Jersey was allocated $2,761,092,303, and the obligation deadline is Sept. 30, 2024.
COPS School Violence Prevention Program
The U.S. Department of Justice oversees the COPS School Violence Prevention Program. This program earmarks funding for evidence-based school safety programs and technology. Schools can use COPS funds to purchase school safety technology that helps identify potential dangers. The money can also be used to improve emergency notification and response systems. To learn more, visit the COPS website.
BJA’s STOP School Violence Program
The U.S. Department of Justice has also made funds available through the Bureau of Justice Assistance. BJA’s STOP School Violence Program funds the purchase of software that helps K-12 schools maintain a safe environment. This program is geared toward recognizing, responding to, and preventing violence on campus. Learn more here.
CENTEGIX | White Paper
The Impact of Safety on the Mental Health and Well-being of Staff and Students in K-12 Schools
When safety leads, success follows.
How Are Your Resources Being Spent?
CENTEGIX protects over 11,500 schools across the country. We can protect your school, too.
The CENTEGIX Safety Platform™, featuring CrisisAlert™, accelerates your response to emergencies. We’ve built the CENTEGIX Safety Platform to support you in the single most critical factor of incident response: time. Because in an emergency, every second matters.
Discover federal resources to fund new safety and security initiatives in your district by exploring federal funding resources for school safety.
Hear from Our Educators
We engage with teachers and staff every day to understand how CrisisAlert supports them, and here’s what they’ve shared:
A student was having trouble breathing and her vision was beginning to black out. We don’t have service in our building and it can be difficult to get ahold of the office staff, so having something to immediately alert them of emergency was incredibly helpful in a very scary situation.
I had a student who was refusing to follow directions and became very defiant. This student was beginning to get aggressive. I used my badge to alert our campus security monitor to remove the student from the situation. It is a very useful tool when the response was as immediate as it was.
A student was having a severe panic attack, trouble speaking, crying, not able to answer my questions as to what was wrong with her. I used the device to call for administrative help and it worked like it was designed to. Help arrived in a matter of seconds. I saw firsthand how well it works.
The Safety Platform™ Meets Grant-Funded Safety Measures
The CENTEGIX Safety Platform is an emergency incident response safety system that features wearable panic buttons, digital mapping software, and reunification and visitor management capabilities and generates accurate, usable data. The Safety Platform solution uses visual strobes, digital messages, and automated intercom announcements to inform everyone of a campus-wide incident and to instruct them on actions they should take. The Safety Platform meets the security infrastructure needs the New Jersey school safety grants aim to address.
The Safety Platform features an analytics dashboard that assists administrators as they make safety and security decisions. A data set is generated when a staff member uses their wearable badge to request assistance. Administrators can better understand where and why and under what conditions. These administrative decisions, enabled by Platform data, contribute to the “positive and safe climate” that the safety grants aim to foster.
The CENTEGIX school safety platform provides robust and uninterrupted communication between staff members, administrators, first responders, and students. Unlike other emergency incident response systems, the Safety Platform’s technology precludes adoption and connectivity challenges. It runs on a dedicated IoT network; it’s not susceptible to Wi-Fi or cellular connectivity interruptions. And because the CrisisAlert mobile panic button is worn along with an ID badge, 100% of staff members use it. This high adoption rate means that every staff member at every location on campus can request help when they need it. CrisisAlert generates accurate location data for every alert, no matter where on campus. Therefore first responders know exactly where to go during an emergency. In many instances, this kind of rapid response can prevent tragedy.
These critical features of the CrisisAlert badge and Safety Blueprint from CENTEGIX ensure an immediate response:
Desktop takeover notifications for staff mean campus-wide alerts are never missed.
Location accuracy enables rapid response.
The system immediately connects the parties best prepared to handle the situation.
Wi-Fi and phone outages have no effect on the system.
Wearable security badges are easily accessible, lightweight, and wearable.
CENTEGIX Safety Platform can help school districts and LEAs enact these measures, making students and staff safer. The Safety platform school safety solution helps create a climate of safety by enabling staff members to request help immediately, from anywhere on campus, in any type of emergency. Under these conditions, teachers can focus on student needs, and students can focus on learning.
CENTEGIX is the leader in incident response solutions. Our Safety Platform is the fastest and easiest way for staff to request help in an emergency, from the everyday to the extreme. CENTEGIX innovates technology to empower and protect people, and leaders nationwide trust our safety solutions to provide peace of mind.
Championing Safe Schools with Educators and Educator Associations
Discover the Safety Platform
Safety solutions that prioritize speed for the best outcome.
Mapping and locating capabilities provide the precise location—of emergencies, visitors, and safety assets.
A visitor management system screens and locates visitors on your campus.
Protocol development to plan for rapid incident response.
CENTEGIX CrisisAlert vs. Mobile Apps
When all staff members are equipped with the CENTEGIX CrisisAlert badge, New Jersey schools eliminate the need for educators to download an emergency response app to their personal devices and achieve 100% user adoption.
In an Emergency, You Need CrisisAlert™
Adverse situations can happen at any moment—from everyday crises such as medical emergencies, severe weather, and physical altercations to extreme situations that threaten your entire campus. The faster you get help to the right location, the better the outcome.
See how our CrisisAlert wearable mobile panic button empowers staff to get help instantly in an emergency.
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Empower Your Educators
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