Emergency Communications Systems for Schools

­Until recently, portable panic alarms and emergency mass notification systems were a luxury in schools. That all changed in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSDHS) tragedy when “Alyssa’s Law” (FL Ch. 2020-145) was signed into effect requiring Florida schools to “..implement a mobile panic alert system capable of connecting diverse emergency services technologies…”

By mandating the use of panic alarm systems, Alyssa’s Law forged a new best practice expectation for schools throughout the nation.

Although the mandatory adoption of panic alarms and mass notification systems in schools is a recent development, Critical Intervention Services has been keenly aware of this market need for years. As consultants specializing in school security, improved measures for expediting police dispatch and school-wide alert notification have been a critical component of our Guardian SafeSchool Program® standards and a universal recommendation to clients.

And in situations where schools have deficient public address systems (a very common problem we encounter), mass notification systems are recommended as a priority measure to help alleviate this concern.

To best advise our clients, CIS spent considerable time over the years surveying the market in search of an integrated panic alarm and mass notification system suitable for recommendation. Although the features and capabilities of existing systems were quite diverse, none of the available panic alert or mass notification systems ever fulfilled our criteria for simple, reliabile, and immediate alert to all key parties.

And from this void in the marketplace, GuardianCall was born—a wearable panic alarm and mass notification system designed by security experts to address real-world communication problems in American schools.