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District tests Swidget safety pilot; staff say product still in proof‑of‑concept phase
Summary
Fulton board received an update on a pilot with Swidget — a classroom alert/badge system — and staff said the vendor is still developing the dashboard and response workflows with teachers and first responders; the district has not yet activated live alerts in classrooms.
The Fulton City School District updated the board on a pilot with Swidget, a private vendor offering classroom alert badges and an associated dashboard that would notify administrators, SROs and local law enforcement when activated. District staff said Swidget’s work is currently in a proof‑of‑concept phase and that the vendor and district are co‑designing the dashboard, button placement and response routing.
Why it matters: If implemented and integrated with first responders, a classroom alert system could change how administrators and police receive situational awareness during an emergency. Board members and staff discussed how any product would interoperate with the district’s existing services (for example, ZeroEyes) and emphasized teacher comfort and false‑alarm suppression as primary design considerations.
District staff reported Swidget has installed cameras in six junior high classrooms as part of the pilot and that one additional classroom installation was planned. Staff said the pilot so far has focused on user interface design — where teachers would place and wear badges, the length of suppression windows to avoid inadvertent activations, and how alerts appear to school administrators and external first responders.
Swidget representatives and participating teachers have run design meetings and provided feedback about teacher comfort, button placement and dashboard content, staff said. The district clarified that the buttons and badges are not yet live — staff said the system has not been activated to trigger external responses and that further technical work is required to connect the Swidget dashboard to first responder systems in a way that aligns with standard emergency dispatch channels.
Board members asked about liability, legal review and costs for full implementation. Staff said Swidget is not charging the district for the pilot installation; additional equipment (lights, wiring, full dashboard licensing) and future upgrades would likely carry costs. Staff also said Fulton PD and Oswego County Sheriff’s Office have been part of discussions and that any external access would require district permission and appropriate licensing.
Ending: Staff said they plan additional dry‑run tests (ideally during spring break, when students are not in buildings) and aim, conditions permitting, to demonstrate an operational end‑to‑end flow to the board before recommending a final implementation decision.
