When Texas students return from summer break for the 2025-26 school year, their classrooms will have to be equipped with technology that allows teachers to call for help immediately with the touch of a button, whether they need help from within the building for a medical emergency or from local police in the case of an active shooter.
Following , Texas will be one of three states鈥攁long with and 鈥攖o require that every public school be equipped with a panic alarm system that allows school personnel to call police immediately and silently, without picking up a phone to dial 911.
The idea is to reduce police response times in emergencies when seconds matter, and when a faster response can mean fewer casualties.
Two other states鈥� and 鈥攈ave passed laws that require schools to consider panic alert systems in their safety plans.
The five state laws are known as Alyssa鈥檚 Law, named for 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff, one of the victims killed in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., whose parents have lobbied for the legislation.
Lawmakers in a number of other states are considering panic button laws for schools. And even without state requirements, more districts are equipping their schools with the technology.
Those systems can come in the form of an app on staff members鈥� phones or, increasingly, a button that teachers wear around their necks along with their ID badges. The systems have options to call for help, often from within the school, when a student has a medical problem or to trigger a school-wide lockdown and police response when there鈥檚 an active shooter.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of steam behind it this year,鈥� said Will Fullerton, who handles government affairs for Centegix, a manufacturer who says its panic alarm system is now installed in 6 percent of schools nationwide. 鈥淎 lot of times, you鈥檒l see something like Uvalde happen and there鈥檚 this huge flurry of activity and then it goes away. But we鈥檙e seeing school safety stay at the forefront this year.鈥�
There鈥檚 widespread agreement that seconds matter in an emergency, and that a faster police response can save lives. However, some security specialists caution schools against being drawn into complacency because they have the ability to call police with the touch of a button. They can鈥檛 drop other security measures and staff training, they say.
Police called with the push of a button
While schools have conducted active shooter drills for decades, people can still panic or forget important steps when faced with a real emergency, said Brent Cobb, Centegix鈥檚 CEO.
That鈥檚 where a panic button can come in handy, he said.
Centegix鈥檚 panic alarms require staff to push a button that they wear around their necks with their ID badges. If the staff member pushes the button enough times, it triggers alarms that sound over the school鈥檚 intercom system and flashing lights, similar to when a fire alarm is going off. The system also sends the location of the alarm鈥檚 origin to police, who are equipped with a map of the school.
With the Centegix system, staff can push the button three times to signal 鈥淚 need help,鈥� indicating a lower-level problem that doesn鈥檛 require a lockdown or police response. In that situation, a designated team of school staff is notified.
That team usually consists of an administrator, health personnel, and school security or school resource officers, Cobb said.
To trigger a campus-wide alert and call to police, staff have to push the button eight or more times in succession.
Some security experts have cautioned districts against overlooking smaller, day-to-day fixes, like making sure schools鈥� exterior doors are locked, in what they see as a rush to adopt technology-based security solutions.
鈥淚n throwing so much technology at the problem 鈥� we may have unintentionally created a false sense of security,鈥� Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers .
Ken Trump, who runs an Ohio-based school security consulting firm, described the quick adoption of security technology as 鈥渟ecurity theater鈥� and part of a scramble by schools to show that they鈥檙e doing something.
鈥淧eople want visible, tangible things,鈥� Trump told the Associated Press. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot harder to point to the value of training your staff. Those are intangibles. Those are things that are less visible and invisible, but they鈥檙e most effective.鈥�
The attack in Uvalde illustrated the shortcomings of some panic-alert systems. Robb Elementary School had implemented an alert app, and when an attacker approached the school, a school employee sent a lockdown alert.
But because of poor Wi-Fi or phones that were turned off or in drawers, according to an investigation by the Texas Legislature. And those who did may not have taken it seriously, the Legislature鈥檚 report said, because the school sent out frequent alerts related to in the area.
Designed for a shooting, deployed for smaller emergencies
While the alarm systems are designed to speed response times to major emergencies, school shootings are statistically uncommon.
So in practice, districts that use Centegix alarms use them most often for smaller-scale emergencies that require the in-school team to respond, Cobb said. More than 95 percent of the alarm activations in any given year are for day-to-day problems, like a behavioral issue in the classroom or a medical emergency.
That鈥檚 been true in Little Rock, Ark., where teachers have been outfitted with the panic buttons for two years, according to Ron Self, the district鈥檚 director of safety, security, and risk management.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great thing to have in the event of an active shooter, but the reality is, that鈥檚 not going to happen most places,鈥� Self said. 鈥淲hat we are going to see is student fights, medical issues, and things like that where our staff need help.鈥�
Prior to using the Centegix system, the district attempted to use a mobile app that allowed teachers to push a button on their cellphones to call for help or trigger a lockdown.
But less than 20 percent of staff downloaded the app, Self said. He estimated that about 5 percent of staff actually used it, and district leaders struggled to get buy-in.
Now, everyone is required to have the Centegix badge, and most keep it with their ID badge. There鈥檚 鈥渘early universal compliance,鈥� Self said.
Implementing the new alert system has made students, teachers, and families feel safer in the classroom, he said.
Human resources staff in the district even tout the system to prospective hires, Self said.
鈥淚t makes them feel less like they鈥檙e out there on their own,鈥� Self said. 鈥淭eacher morale goes up because they feel like you鈥檙e doing what needs to be done to protect them.鈥�
It鈥檚 uncommon for people to accidentally activate the panic alarms, Cobb said, in part because staff members have to press the button repeatedly, so it takes an intentional effort.
Sometimes, however, a staff member will witness a 鈥渓ower-level emergency鈥� and press the button enough times to set off the major alarms, Cobb said. A teacher who comes across someone experiencing a medical emergency, for example, may panic and continuously press the button to call for help, triggering the alarm and lockdown.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard for it to happen, but if it does, I think people understand that the system was working,鈥� Cobb said. 鈥淯ltimately, at the end of the day, we need to make sure that people who are teaching our children feel safe, and that children themselves are safe, and these alarms add that layer of comfort.鈥�
