Brandy Oldman was 14 years old when the Columbine High School massacre happened.
“It really did make me anxious as a teenager in school,” said Oldman, 39, of Alachua County.
More than 25 years later, Oldman said she feels her kids — three of whom attend Alachua County public schools — are out of harm’s way on their campuses.
“The teachers there do everything they possibly can to keep them safe,” she said. “They would take a bullet for my kids.”
Oldman’s words come after the district alerted its public school principals that it will adopt Raptor, an integrated school safety software, as its primary emergency notification system.
The district began its search for a new safety software after the state removed Intrado, the district’s former emergency notification system, from its list of approved vendors at the end of June. This was done in accordance with Alyssa’s Law, legislation passed in 2020 that requires each public school to implement a mobile panic alert system.
Alachua County Public Schools communications director Jackie Johnson said Raptor was the best option, given its prior involvement in the district’s visitor screening process and ability to mesh with the local Enhanced 911 (E9-1-1) system. An E9-1-1 system is one that “automatically displays the telephone number and location of 9-1-1 calls made from landline or wireless phones.”
“The whole point is for the alert system to be able to contact 911 smoothly,” Johnson said. “It was a matter of how well it would integrate with our data system.”
Those who download the Raptor app can report emergencies, such as the presence of active assailants on school grounds, directly to 911. While state law only requires administrators to get the app, Johnson hopes teachers and staff members also download it, she said.
“It’s a way not only for them to report but to be notified of any emergencies on campus,” Johnson said.
Johnson acknowledged Raptor will not single handedly mitigate safety concerns within Alachua County Public Schools and said the district’s comprehensive approach to safety will allow it to continue hardening its own facilities.
To Matthew Brown, an AP English Literature and Composition teacher at Eastside High School, there likely won’t be a significant difference between the district’s current emergency notification system and Raptor, he said.
“They’re all the same thing, just packaged different,” Brown said. “It’s like ordering an item from Taco Bell — it’s the same main ingredients but just folded in a different shape.”
Alachua County is not the only Florida district to adopt Raptor. Marion County Public Schools introduced the system after the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, said Dennis McFatten, the executive director of safety and security for Marion County Public Schools.
Marion County now uses a combined panic alert system, allowing another safety platform called Centegix to work alongside Raptor. Since the district increased its reliance on Centegix as opposed to Raptor, system participation rate from administrators and teachers improved, McFatten said.
“We were only getting a small percentage of our staff that was able to initiate an emergency [notification] if an emergency occurred, probably 20 to 25%,” McFatten said. “Now we’re closer to 100%.”
McFatten pointed out a large difference between the costs of Raptor and Centegix: Marion County paid $110,000 over a three year period for Raptor, a state-funded system and paid roughly $2 million for Centegix.
“We paid for something that is going to be more valuable to us,” McFatten said.
The district remains committed to fostering a safe environment for its students, regardless of state legislation, he added.
“It’s not something that we just do because we’re mandated to do it,” McFatten said. “We do it because we want to do it.”
To William McAteer, principal of Lake Weir High School in Ocala, the appeal of Centegix stemmed from its staff training.
“The training on Raptor was outstanding,” McAteer said. “But our Centegix training was really, really strong.”
Both Raptor and Centegix have helped staff, teachers and students feel much safer in today’s climate, though, McAteer added.
Cortney Strickland, a senior at North Marion High School in Citra, Florida, agreed with this sentiment for the most part, she said. Feeling safe on campus is partially a “blindness to what could be happening around her,” she added.
“I have been in a classroom where there was a gun in a backpack,” Strickland said. “It didn’t get caught until the end of school, so that was kind of eye-opening.”
While noting that North Marion High School hasn't done a bad job ensuring its students' safety, Strickland recalled being in another potentially dangerous situation — one where her experience taking photos at a school football game was tainted by guns being detected.
“I just think it’s crazy that I have to be worried about that,” Strickland said. “The only shooting I should be worried about is my camera shooting, not a gun.”
Strickland added, however, the use of both Raptor and Centegix in her district has made her feel more secure.
“That definitely has upped our safety in previous years,” she said.
Alachua County public school principals began notifying teachers and staff of the district’s switch to Raptor last week.