It was the second day of this school year, when an administrator in Montgomery County, TX, found herself needing to manage a student’s medical emergency on the football field after hours. A junior high school student was experiencing chest pains and needed immediate care.

The administrator got out her phone, opened up an app and within seconds hit a mobile panic button, immediately alerting 9-1-1, first responders and other security staff of the issue. EMS swiftly arrived and transported the student to a nearby hospital. The student made a full recovery.

Emergencies happen when and where we least expect them to. Preparedness is key. Tools like panic button technology can ensure school administrators, teachers and athletic staff are never caught without the ability to quickly ask for help, in order to keep their students safer.

Andrea Shepard, associate director at the Montgomery County Emergency Communication District, was not surprised by this panic button push so early in the school year. Shepard’s agency oversees 9-1-1 communications for the county and recognized that panic button technology could be a game changer for both school and public safety staff, enabling better collaboration when schools face emergencies like medical issues, fights and safety concerns.

Andrea went to the head of her 9-1-1 agency, local first responder agencies and education officials to propose that the county deploy panic button technology. As of January 2023, the county’s 130 schools within the Conroe, Magnolia, Montgomery, New Caney, Splendora and Willis school districts now have access to panic button technology that enables quick and efficient communication should any of their 124,000 K-12 students or staff experience an emergency.

In recent months, Shepard has counseled other Texas education and 9-1-1 leaders researching panic button technology. The state recently made billions of dollars in grants available to schools to increase their safety measures and the governor signed Alyssa’s Law into legislation, which will require panic button alert systems in all Texas schools by the start of the 2025-2026 school year.

The quest to empower school administrators, teachers and staff to quickly contact 9-1-1 and bring in first responders during emergencies is not limited to Texas. Fueled by rising school safety threats, as well as new funding streams and legislative mandates, 9-1-1 and school officials across the nation are increasingly coming together in the spirit of communication and collaboration to benefit students.

By September, the number of campus shootings in the United States had already reached a new high. Yet active assailant threats are not the only - nor primary - safety issue panic buttons are activated.

Nearly one-third of middle schoolers have been bullied, more students and educational staff are voicing concerns about mental health than ever before and teachers report a marked increase in violence between students and staff.