The Othello School District board approved a contract to install a wearable panic-badge system and related infrastructure at Othello High School and McFarland Middle School, district staff said at a board meeting. The purchase, presented by staff member Carlos Gonzales, was placed on the board's consent agenda and approved before the presentation.

Administrators said the system will deliver faster, targeted alerts and provide location information to administrators and first responders, adding a layer of emergency notification beyond radios and intercoms. "When I think about safety, I think about the importance of time being of critical importance," Carlos Gonzales said during the presentation.

The system vendor identified in the presentation was Xponse, a provider of wearable panic badges and campus alert infrastructure. Gonzales told the board the district's proposed package would fully equip the two campuses'staff and some extracurricular coaches and includes installation, strobes and controllers, and training. He described two budget figures during the discussion: an initial figure of about $290,000 to equip the campuses and a larger figure of about $337,000 "and then some" to include replacements and additional components.

Gonzales said the system is scalable and can be expanded after the initial infrastructure is in place. He described configurable alerts (single press for a disturbance, a different press pattern for medical emergencies) and said the system can send texts, emails and law-enforcement notifications and can trigger visual strobes and lockdowns when configured to do so. "It would initiate these alert protocols to go into immediate lockdown," he said.

Board members asked about ongoing costs and long-term licensing. Gonzales said the technology and offerings in the space evolve quickly and that the district would need to revisit upgrades and additional features in the future. He also said the purchase leverages a WSIPC procurement contract that provides discounted pricing and purchasing compliance.

District staff said installation could begin "as early as this fall," pending vendor scheduling, and that staff training and integration would follow. The superintendent noted the system will help the district meet the state-level requirement commonly called Alyssa's Law, which requires a silent panic alert or instant notification system with campus-wide usability; Gonzales said the proposed system "fully [complies] and exceeds the state expectations."

The board authorized district staff to proceed with the purchase as listed on the consent agenda; no roll-call vote or motion text was discussed during the presentation because the item had already been approved.

The district plans staff training and further vendor coordination before devices are issued to staff and used in drills. Gonzales and other staff said the district would monitor the system's performance and consider future expansions or feature additions as needed.