Kennewick to pilot classroom voice-amplification and integrated safety system at Park Middle School

Superintendent Hanson and staff outlined a pilot to install a classroom voice-amplification and safety system at Park Middle School that the district said will both improve instruction audibility and add safety features.

"It's an integrated system that allows us to do a couple of things," the superintendent said, describing classroom amplification that projects instructor audio equitably across the classroom and wearable/receiver units with automatic call-for-help capability that can send zone-specific alerts to the front office. The system also includes door-position switches so staff can detect when exterior doors are ajar and configure timers for automatic monitoring.

District staff said the project will begin with wiring during spring break and that the pilot is funded from the district's technology levy augmentation and embedded safety/security components. Staff noted that, if the Park rollout is successful, the district will consider scaling the system to other schools lacking similar devices (the district named several candidate schools such as Washington, Vista, Hawthorne and Edison).

Staff also emphasized that the system includes language-translation capability to support multilingual parent engagement during conferences and events by delivering translated audio to receiver devices.

Board members and staff described professional development and end-user engagement as part of the rollout plan. The board did not vote on funding at the meeting; staff said the expenditures are covered within levy-authorized tech and safety categories.