Illinois School Districts Install Crisis Management System

  • Feb 25, 2009

Bloom Township High School District 206 announced recently that it and seven other districts are the first schools in Illinois to install the Rapid Responder crisis management system to protect students and staff.

Rapid Responder, from Prepared Response Inc., provides school security and public safety agencies with secure and instant access to critical campus information including floor plans, aerial imagery, evacuation routes and other important information via a computer.

The districts received a federal school safety grant in 2007 to install Rapid Responder which now protects 39 elementary, middle, high school and administration facilities in a total of eight districts. Prepared Response also provided emergency preparedness training for the districts. The other districts include: Brookwood 167; Chicago Heights 170; Ford Heights 169; CCSD 168; Sandridge 172; Steger 194; and SPEED 802.

“Maximizing the safety of our students and staff has always been, and always will be, our highest priority,” said Bloom Township District superintendent Glen Giannetti. “Educational success is easier when the environment is safe.

“We could not have done this without the dedication and cooperation of local police and fire personnel who spent days working with us and other districts on safety planning, and the personnel from our district and other districts who put in the time to make the buildings safer for students from their first day in kindergarten to their last day in high school. This truly was a team effort.”

“The safety of the students and staff is a major concern for these districts and we are proud that Rapid Responder can now be used during emergencies to help protect them,” said Jim Finnell, president and CEO of Prepared Response. “While these are the first school districts in Illinois to use Rapid Responder, the system is currently protecting more than 2,900 schools in 15 states.”

Rapid Responder was used at a Washington state high school to quickly contain a gunman and evacuate 2,000 students in 20 minutes and is protecting critical infrastructure across the U.S. Rapid Responder is endorsed by the National Sheriffs’ Association and is the only campus crisis management system Certified as a “Qualified Anti-Terrorism Technology” through the Department of Homeland Security’s SAFETY Act Program.

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