Over recent years, adverse conditions have put America’s schools under intense pressure. From staffing shortages to COVID protocols to student mental health to an increase in violence, teachers’ jobs are more difficult than ever.
The federal and state governments recognize that supporting schools is vital and have created funding streams directed toward creating healthy learning environments. A school safety plan incorporating innovative technology can help create these healthy environments.
The CENTEGIX Safety Platform™ is the foundation for multilayered school safety plans. CENTEGIX technology empowers districts to enact customizable safety protocols and accelerate emergency response. Teachers and students who feel safe are better equipped to teach and learn. CENTEGIX technology helps districts create the culture of safety that grant funders seek to support.
Read on for insight into how CENTEGIX school safety solutions qualify for grant funding and can help create a culture of safety in your district.
Title I Part A
Title I Part A is a federal program that provides supplemental funds to local school districts to help ensure that all children have access to a high-quality education. Title I funds can be used to support initiatives in the following areas:
- improving teaching and learning
- providing remediation to students
- staff development
- family and community engagement
- support for state and local reform efforts
Title I funds can also be spent on comprehensive, school-wide interventions if a school’s needs assessment and schoolwide plan indicate a need for these interventions. For example, if a school can prove that recruiting and retaining teachers is essential to its success, Title I can provide financial incentives for this purpose.
Schools and districts should establish a strong connection between physical safety and student learning to secure Title I funding for school safety solutions. Grant applications should argue that an environment where students and teachers feel unsafe is inimical to learning and teaching. When students’ mental health is negatively impacted by feeling unsafe, their ability to learn is also negatively impacted; school safety solutions can mitigate this impact, thus improving conditions for teaching and learning.
In schools that implement the CENTEGIX Safety Platform, teachers and staff are equipped with the CrisisAlert mobile panic button with which they can initiate an alert for help from anywhere on campus. CrisisAlert de-escalates emergencies and discourages disruptive behavior by allowing teachers a reliable way to get help, quickly. This accelerates response times and ensures students’ learning is less interrupted.
- When a staff member presses their CrisisAlert button three times, the school safety response team receives an alert. This team initiates the school’s safety response plan.
- Staff members can initiate a campus-wide lockdown by pressing their button eight times, thereby putting the school’s safety protocols into action.
- The CrisisAlert app shows notifications to customized responder groups, empowering multiple school leaders to participate in and collaborate on emergency response.
- CrisisAlert notifications can be transmitted directly to law enforcement, eliminating time delays.
- Staff and parents are granted the peace of mind that comes with knowing anyone on campus can request and receive help at any time.
CENTEGIX school safety technology creates an all-encompassing culture of safety. Within this culture, students and staff are relieved of the anxiety associated with violence in schools and empowered to focus on teaching and learning.
Title IV Part A
Title IV Part A is a component of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) that distributes Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (SSAEG) nationwide. This program gives educators and state officials the flexibility and funding to decide what student safety measures are most needed in their schools and communities. Schools who win these grants show how their proposed initiatives support a safe and healthy learning environment in which students’ sense of security enables productive learning.
At least 20% of a district’s Title IV funds must go toward safe and healthy schools. An additional 20% must focus on initiatives that provide a well-rounded education. The remaining 60% of Title IV funds can be used on any priority that falls within these categories. Districts seeking to implement school safety plans can therefore use 80% of their Title IV funding for this purpose.
Building safe and supportive learning environments requires that schools invest in healthy approaches to disruptive behaviors as well as students’ and staff members’ emotional well-being, physical safety, and relationships. CrisisAlert empowers staff members to request help during everyday emergencies and larger-scale incidents, including acts of violence. CENTEGIX technology aids in safe classroom management and effective emergency response.
CENTEGIX school safety solutions improve school conditions for student learning by creating a culture of safety in which the entire school community can thrive. Districts can apply to use Title IV Part A funding to invest in CENTEGIX technology that empowers staff and establishes a safe school environment.
Competitive Federal Grants
Enhancing School Capacity to Address Youth Violence
The Office of Justice and Juvenile Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) will fund the Enhancing School Capacity to Address Youth Violence grant program. This program supports targeted, evidence-based prevention and intervention programs to address youth violence in schools. The program’s goals are to reduce the incidence of school violence through improved school safety and climate and to prevent youth violence, delinquency, and victimization in the targeted community.
CENTEGIX Safety Platform helps schools improve school safety and climate by:
- Empowering staff to request help instantly using their CrisisAlert badge.
- Deterring students from engaging in disruptive behavior; students who know that a teacher can immediately request and receive help from other staff members are less likely to behave disruptively.
- Creating a campus-wide culture of safety. Staff members can request help from anywhere on campus, including outdoor spaces where violent incidents often occur.
- Gathering the data administrators need to make strategic decisions about violence prevention. Using the CENTEGIX Dashboard, administrators can see where, when, and how often violent incidents occur and make staffing or other adjustments to prevent further incidents.
Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Program
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) administers the STOP School Violence grant program. It is designed to provide students, teachers, and staff with the tools they need to recognize, respond quickly to, and prevent acts of violence. Awarded initiatives include school safety plans that improve school climate, including behavioral threat assessments, intervention teams, technological innovations that increase school safety, and other strategies that help prevent violence. The suite of tools that constitute the CENTEGIX Safety Platform helps schools accomplish the aims of the STOP School Violence grant.
- Gathers data. Administrators can use this data to design effective safety plans, meet reporting requirements, and inform threat assessments.
- Empowers staff members to request help during everyday emergencies and violent incidents.
- Creates a culture of safety that nurtures supportive learning environments.
- Has a deterrent effect: equipping every staff member with a CrisisAlert badge means school leaders can respond to violence quickly.
Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative
The Office of Justice Programs administers the Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative to support efforts to “prevent and reduce violent crime in communities by supporting comprehensive, evidence-based community-based violence intervention and prevention programs.” The program includes efforts to address gang and gun violence and awards organizations that prioritize community partnerships. Through this collaborative approach, jurisdictions will gain expertise to address community violence among young people, including both perpetrators and victims.
- The CENTEGIX Safety Platform increases communication between schools, first responders, and law enforcement.
- Schools that implement the Safety Platform equip their staff with the tools to alert school and first responders when violence occurs and to initiate school safety protocols when needed.
- CENTEGIX school safety solutions unite multiple stakeholders within a school building and throughout the community to keep staff and students safe.
School Violence Prevention Program
The Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act of 2018 gave the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office authority to provide awards directly to States, units of local government, or Indian tribes to improve security at schools through evidence-based school safety programs and technology. The School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP) made $73 million available in 2024, and the grant will renew in 2025.
SVPP funding will provide up to 75% funding for the following school safety measures in K-12 schools:
- technology for expedited notification of local law enforcement during an emergency
- coordination with law enforcement
- training for local law enforcement officers to prevent student violence against others and self
- metal detectors, locks, lighting, and other deterrent measures
- any other measure that the COPS Office determines may provide a significant improvement in security
CENTEGIX technology is designed to enact the safety measures named by the SVPP grant:
- The CrisisAlert mobile panic button integrates with the Safety Platform to facilitate instant communication between school response teams and law enforcement.
- The Safety Platform can be customized to alert specific response team members within a school and first responder agencies, depending on the type of emergency.
- By coordinating directly with law enforcement, schools that use the CENTEGIX Safety Platform bypass the time delays that can occur with traditional methods of contacting 911.
- CENTEGIX Visitor Management enables schools to improve security on campus by monitoring who is present on school property and permitting only authorized visitors.
- CrisisAlert covers the entire property, so staff can initiate discreet alerts or schoolwide lockdowns from anywhere on campus.
- Safety Blueprint’s critical incident mapping shows the precise location where help is required, thus accelerating emergency response.
- Safety asset locations and other information relevant to first responders are updated and visible to first responders on the Safety Blueprint dynamic map.
The CENTEGIX Safety Platform: Creating a Culture of Safety
The CENTEGIX Safety Platform is designed to create an all-encompassing climate of safety in schools that is conducive to teaching and learning. The Safety Platform can be paid for with grants focused on creating safe and supportive learning environments and those seeking to mitigate violence in schools.
Schedule a demo with CENTEGIX today to learn more about how the CENTEGIX Safety Platform qualifies for school safety grant funding.
