School alert system bill advances in Georgia state legislature

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - More than 5 years ago, 17 families lost their children in a school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Now lawmakers in Georgia and across the country are supporting a bill named for one of the students who was killed.

Jason Anavitarte is the sponsor of Senate Bill 32 or Alyssa’s law named after Alyssa Alhadeff, a 14-year-old, who was killed in Parkland, Florida.

“Every moment could save a child’s life. Whether you’re in an inner city school or a rural school, the problem is always, how do you get the information from the school to where it needs to go,” said Anavitarte.

His bill would equip Georgia schools with a system with panic buttons that communicated directly with first responders in the area.

“I want to make sure that our kids are safe if god forbid, this ever happens in our schools,” said Anavitarte.

The HB 147 bill that makes annual active shooter drills mandatory in Georgia classrooms passed on Monday.

States like Florida have already passed similar legislation, allocating more than $6 million to pay for the upgrade.

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Ken Trump, President of National School Safety and Security Services, says data shows that training teachers and students to look out for warning signs of a shooter, not these high-tech devices are the best tools for schools.

“There’s a lot of pressure on school officials and legislators, by parents in the school community to do something. Technology, you can point to and say, see, we’ve made school safer when in reality, you’re creating security theater, the illusion of more security,” said Trump.

Despite some opposition, the bill passed through the Senate and now awaits another vote in the House.

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