NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — When our kids and grand-kids go off to school each day we want to know they are safe. That is why one lawmaker wants to get emergency alert systems into Tennessee schools.
They are wearable and would be an easy way for teachers to quickly get help in case of a threat or a medical emergency.
This is one of the bills proposed following the Covenant School shooting last march.
On Wednesday, the bill will go before the Senate Education Committee.
It proposes that the alert systems, which could be worn like a lanyard around a teacher's neck, would be programmed to identify the specific teacher it is assigned to and will require the teacher to wear the device at all times while at school.
It would also have GPS and audio and video recording capabilities.
There would be three buttons in different colors to identify what type of emergency is happening when pressed.
Senator Mark Pody is a sponsor for the bill.
"The police officers will see exactly what is going on. if that teacher is seeing whats going on, directly to officer. identify shooter, what weapons, and what they're doing."
The bill also proposes an annual study on how the alert systems performed — such as what type of emergencies were commonly reported through the device and if it really helped improve response time.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
