Shawnee Mission updates safety program, cites wearable panic alerts and refreshed emergency operations plan

Chief Mark Schmidt and Officer Philip Laughlin told the Shawnee Mission Board of Education about this year’s district safety and security work, including training, technology deployments and staffing changes that officials say have increased on-campus support for students and staff.

The update emphasized relationships between officers and school communities. "Our role is more protect the perimeters, protect our kids, and make our staff feel comfortable, because I don't think you learn if you don't feel safe," Chief Mark Schmidt said, describing SROs, D.R.O.s, CSOs and communications staff and saying many officers come to the district after long careers in other agencies.

The district implemented a wearable panic-alert system (referred to in the presentation as Syntegix) that went live for staff on April 21. Officer Philip Laughlin told the board Syntegix wearables issued 327 activations during the first five school weeks after deployment; those activations, the district said, resulted in rapid responses by on-site administrators, nurses, social workers or officers for medical events, behavioral incidents or altercations.

Schmidt and Laughlin also described a recent refresh of the district Emergency Operations Plan (EOP). The EOP was consolidated into a shorter, digitally accessible document intended to make emergency procedures faster to find and use, the presenters said. "We were very intentional about making sure the information was up to date with best practices as well as making it easily attainable and findable," Laughlin said, noting the plan is available on district devices and by phone app.

Technology highlights included the Syntegix panic devices, Raptor visitor screening (71,000 screens reported), a district bully‑reporting system, about 2,500 monitored cameras, two‑way radios and a weather consulting service. Chief Schmidt credited collaboration among IT, operations staff and police for the rapid rollout.

The board asked how the panic system works for students and in accidental or false alerts. Laughlin said staff wear the badges and students are not formally trained to use them, but the system is simple: pressing a button three times summons on-site help while a longer activation can summon external responders. He cited a nearby district case where student use of an alert helped after a staff member experienced cardiac arrest.

Board members and administrators discussed false alerts. Doctor Stubblefield said intercom messages and administrator outreach are used to label drills and, when possible, to notify students quickly that an activation was false, to reduce anxiety. The district also deployed laminated classroom posters summarizing the three primary emergency responses (shelter-in-place, evacuation, code red) to increase clarity.

The presenters said the district added a full-time elementary officer position this year so officers no longer have to be pulled from larger buildings to cover smaller sites. Schmidt noted low arrest numbers (two arrests reported this year) and characterized the program as focused on mentoring, positive contact and partnership with school staff.

The board did not take formal action on the presentation itself. Members thanked police and operations staff for the work and asked for ongoing updates on Syntegix activations, drill communications and efforts to limit student anxiety from false alerts.