District presents Centegix safety platform proposal; requests fast approval for fall implementation
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Summary
District safety staff proposed adopting the Centegix wearable‑badge safety and visitor‑management system, describing features, a 23‑week rollout timeline and that the service would replace the district's current visitor system, Navigate360 emergency suite and building panic buttons.
South Fayette Township School District staff on March 25 asked the board to consider adopting the Centegix safety platform, a campus-wide system that uses wearable badges, locating beacons and audio‑visual alerts to notify trained in‑house teams and first responders of incidents.
A district safety committee representative (identified in the meeting as Dr. Maurer) presented the proposal and urged a prompt decision so implementation could meet a 23‑week timeline and allow staff training before the fall term. "If we are able—if this is something we value, want to approve tonight—we could get moving on that," the presenter said. The presenter described Centegix as a system that provides campus coverage even if Wi‑Fi or cellular service fails and noted local districts that have adopted the platform.
Key features described by the presenter include wearable panic badges with a two‑tier activation: a three‑press sequence for an in‑house staff alert and a longer press sequence (described in the presentation as eight presses) for a first‑responder-level alert. The system includes locating beacons, strobe lights, computer screen notifications for staff and a portal that displays the location of a badge on a map. The presenter said the system can also replace three services the district currently uses: the Raptor visitor system, the Navigate360 emergency management suite and individual building panic buttons.
Board members asked operational questions about how alerts are handled. When a staff badge is pressed three times, the presenter said, trained crisis‑management team members—school security, nurses, administrators and counselors—would be notified and would respond to the scene. "They would report to that location because that might be our school police officer, our nurse, our administrators," the presenter said, adding that the responding staff would have to triage the situation on arrival and that the badge does not transmit audio describing the medical or incident type.
The presenter addressed substitutes and transportation: substitute staff would be issued badges and trained; bus drivers were not included in the initial agreement because of pending construction and site changes but could be added later. The presenter also said Centegix’s service agreement includes replacement and on‑site maintenance—if badges or beacons fail, the vendor replaces them as part of the contract.
The presenter said the vendor quoted a five‑year service agreement (with the vendor handling maintenance and replacements) and that implementation requires both gateway installation (which district IT could perform) and beacon/strobe installation by the vendor. The board did not vote on the Centegix proposal at the March 25 meeting; the presenter said the district planned to include the recommended contract in a forthcoming budget presentation.
The presentation drew operational questions but no formal objection; board members asked about the nature of alerts, substitute coverage, campus‑only activation and costs. The district did not provide a contract price at the meeting.
