CANAL WINCHESTER, Ohio (WCMH) -- An Ohio state senator announced the filing of new school safety legislation called Alyssa’s Law at Canal Winchester High School on Monday, requiring districts across the state to have teachers and staff wear emergency alert systems.
Alyssa’s Law, or Senate Bill 313, would save lives in an emergency at Ohio schools with just the push of a button, according to the bill's sponsor. If passed, the bill would require public schools in Ohio to have staff wear a device with a panic button that can alert first responders and law enforcement.
Pressing the button three times signifies a medical emergency and pressing it eight or more times means there is an active shooter situation.
“Ohio, which has always been a forerunner, needs to get on board and we need to pass this too because we want our kids to be safe and to be able to grow up and live to their fullest potential,” said State Sen. Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester), primary sponsor of the bill.
The bill is named after Alyssa Alhadeff, a 14-year-old girl who was killed in the Parkland, Florida school shooting. Alyssa’s mother Lori Alhadeff was in Canal Winchester Monday for the filing of the bill.
“Alyssa was beautiful, vivacious, amazing, a soccer player, such zest for life, and Alyssa’s Law is named after her, and every time that panic button is pushed, Alyssa is saving lives,” said Alhadeff, who is also the CEO of the nonprofit Make Our Schools Safe. “We want to empower teachers to be able to press a button on their panic button and then it’s directly linked to law enforcement so they can pull up the cameras in the school, get eyes on the scene and better direct their school resource officer where to go.”
The panic button device also has GPS technology which helps law enforcement see where the panic signal is coming from, getting first responders to the area as quickly as possible.
The device has already helped in a Georgia high school shooting on Sept. 4. Just days after the shooting, NBC4 showed viewers how Worthington schools are using technology similar to what Alyssa’s Law calls for.
“They had this exact panic button at Apalachee High School during the shooting and that panic button was pushed and did help to save lives,” Alhadeff said.
Max Lallathin, the director of student service at Canal Winchester Local School District, said he sees the device working very well in the district and in schools across Ohio.
“It could be as simple as a medical emergency, making sure you get fire or EMS on site as soon as possible, so it’s really about saving lives and saving seconds,” Lallathin said.
Senate Bill 313 also includes $25 million that will be allocated to help Ohio schools train staff on the device and implement the new technology.
