Security | News

Ohio District Tests Out K-12 Edition of Emergency Response System

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 01/09/13

An emergency response system designed for higher education and other sectors has been adapted for use in K-12 schools. Lauren Innovations has tailored NaviGate, its Web-based first-responder application, for use in smaller settings. NaviGate Prepared, the new release, has been beta-tested at Strasburg-Franklin Local Schools in Strasburg, OH.

NaviGate Prepared provides online access to critical security information such as floor plans, maps, emergency procedures, and call lists, which can be accessed by authorized users on an Internet-enabled device. For schools outfitted with video cameras, users can access views from those as well; those users include public safety officers with on-board mobile devices that can be accessed on the way to the site of an emergency.

It's being licensed as an annual service. The first year cost is $3,000 per district, which includes basic implementation and training. Annual renewal will be $1000 thereafter, the company said.

"Safety and security are our highest priority in the district," said Curtis Clough, superintendent at the Strasburg district. "We implemented NaviGate Prepared three months ago, and this month we look forward to welcoming first responders into our school buildings to learn our emergency procedures." Although this district is the first to use the new edition, the enterprise version has been in place in many K-12 districts in Pennsylvania and Ohio for "quite some time," said Lauren Innovations' Vice President James Hummel.