Clark County schools use the same technology that saved lives in the Georgia shooting

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (FOX5) – A gunman killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School on Wednesday.

However, some say that without the quick response of the school's security forces and the warning system introduced just about a week ago, even more people could have died.

“I am convinced that this program that Apalachee introduced to us has 100% saved lives. Without a doubt. I recommend it to every school district,” said Stephen Kreyenbuhl, a teacher at Apalachee High School.

The program the teacher is referring to is a Centegix alarm system. The system notified the school of the emergency. School security officers quickly found the suspect, arrested him, and prevented him from claiming any more lives.

CCSD police said they are now in their second year of using Centegix's system and explained how it works to FOX5 in August.

“All the staff member has to do is press the button a certain number of times. An alarm will alert the person that they need help. And then if you keep pressing it a certain number of times, the school will go into what's called a 'hold' state, which is basically a hard lockdown,” said CCSD Lt. Bryan Zink.

Zink added: “It used to be that if a teacher needed a hard lockdown, they had to run over and get the phone in the corner of the classroom, dial a number to the main office, or say 'hard lockdown.'”

Zink says the dispatch center is notified when a badge is pressed, and that activates a map of the school that appears on a board. The department knows exactly who activated the badge because each badge is assigned to a CCSD employee.

The lieutenant says every employee in the district has these badges. He says they have been used more than 1,700 times in the last year. They can also be used to summon help in the event of a medical emergency. Centegix says there are currently 600,000 badges in use.

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