Trustees hear recommendation to adopt Centegix panic‑alert badges, cite strobes and cellular backup as key advantages

District staff recommended Centegix’s crisis‑alert wearable badge platform as the preferred school‑safety system during a York School District 1 work session, saying the product’s cellular operation, battery backup and strobes in every classroom make it more resilient than the alternative the district reviewed, Raptor Technologies.

Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Miss Hagner introduced the item and asked Dean, who led the vendor review, to summarize months of testing and vendor outreach. Dean said the team narrowed four vendors to two finalists and recommended Centegix. "We go through some slides here," Dean said, adding that after reviewing prior work he "found ourselves in the same place" as earlier staff and that Centegix’s hardware‑first approach and 26th‑generation badge informed the recommendation. He told trustees the Centegix badges operate on cellular networks, include battery backup for gateways and trigger strobes in classrooms, hallways and building exteriors.

Dean described two alert levels: a three‑tap press for an assist alert that notifies administrators and a seven‑tap press that activates a full lockdown with audible announcements and strobes. "If I hit it seven or more, it'll activate a full lockdown," he said, describing how location data and audible alerts propagate to administrators.

Staff contrasted Centegix with Raptor, saying Raptor’s app is more fully featured and available to larger staff groups but depends on Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth; presenters said that dependency raised reliability concerns in outage scenarios and that some districts reported false alarms with earlier-generation wearable devices. Miss Hagner and Dean also noted that Centegix’s visitor‑badge tracking and denser strobe coverage were factors in their recommendation.

On costs, staff described a multi‑year contract with higher initial installation charges for hardware and cited an annual recurring figure discussed during the presentation (presenters referenced an approximate renewable amount of $82,000 per year after installation). Miss Hagner said the district planned to earmark capital funds from its annual 8% issuance to cover implementation costs rather than use operating funds.

Trustees questioned administrator vs. staff access to the system’s app, system integration with existing intercoms and cameras, and whether the system could interface with law enforcement consistent with pending legislation mentioned in the presentation. Dean and Miss Hagner said Centegix can interface with local law enforcement systems and that integration costs would be discussed in procurement. No formal procurement vote was held at the session; trustees asked staff to continue refining cost estimates and integration plans.

The board did not authorize a purchase at this meeting; staff were directed to return with procurement and funding details for a future session.