The Randolph County Board of Education heard details about a contracted anonymous tip platform during its Oct. 16 meeting, and district safety staff said the system should go live in late October or early November.

Superintendent (name not specified) said the district signed the contract earlier this year to give students, families and community members “a way to report stuff to us that we may need to know about that’s going on in school” without having to “go publicly right in front of the principal.”

Allen Robertson, described in the meeting as the district’s “safety guru,” said the vendor—identified in the meeting as Anonymous Alerts—will let users submit concerns privately and give principals a way to follow up without knowing the reporter’s identity. “When I receive a tip on my phone, I don’t know where it came from. I can identify myself and say, ‘hey, you’ve got Allen Robertson. You have my attention now,’” Robertson said. He added that the platform allows people to leave an email but that district staff will not see the reporter’s email unless the person voluntarily shares it.

Robertson said principals are testing the system and district staff have loaded phones and configuration settings. “Now the principals are playing around with it for a few more days and we should be at the October ready to go live with this,” he said.

Superintendent (name not specified) told the board the district will publish information about the tip line on its Facebook page and place instructional materials in school hallways so students can learn how to report concerns quietly. The superintendent also thanked staff for preparing materials and configuring the system for testing.

The board did not take a separate vote on the platform during the meeting; Robertson described the contract as already signed and explained the planned public rollout timeline.