Dorchester District 2 using new technology to improve school and student safety

DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – Dorchester District 2 (DD2) is utilizing new technology to make things safer when your kids are in school.

In fact, the district is adding a few things to help improve its response during emergencies at its schools.

“The first one is called “Stop It.” It’s a reporting app our students get on their phones, or also, we’re going to put it on their tablets,” explained DD2’s Director of Security, Preston Giet. “Anything that arises throughout the day, whether it’s bullying, weapons, drugs or anything they need to report, they can report that anonymously and it alerts our app admin at the school as well as upper administration.”

The Stop It app monitors tips 24 hours a day so the district or even law enforcement will be notified if needed.

“The second one is Raptor Technologies. And Raptor is a very robust system. It does a lot of different things. Visitor management, so anytime you come in the schools do you have an ID? It will be checked for a nationwide database not just for sex offenders, but any type of felonies,” Giet explained.

It also can be critical during serious emergencies.

“All of our teachers, all of our school staff, will have the app on their phone. So if any time they need to initiate whatever school procedures, they can do that … they need to go on lockdown, they’ll be able to push a button that goes on lockdown and alerts our school staff through the app. And police and first responders will have geolocation as to where they are and allow them to communicate directly with dispatch.”

A teacher can use the app to communicate live during emergencies, providing information to law enforcement like where they might be hiding and how many kids are with them.

Stop It was given to the district by the state. The school district is spending about $110,000 initially for Raptor, and it will run the district about $50,000 per year.

“One of the big questions we get from parents is about communication and it’s always a challenge for us to get timely information out. With this app, it will allow us to get more information out a lot faster than when we have in the past,” Giet explained.

District officials say this system is expected to be fully operational within the next two weeks.