EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT > RAPTOR ALERT® TEXAS
Activate your emergency response through app-based and wearable panic buttons
Effective May 5, 2023, Alyssa’s Law (SB 838/HB 669) was passed in Texas. This bill requires school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to provide silent panic alert technology in classrooms beginning with the 2025-2026 school year. The technology must allow for immediate contact with district or school emergency services and agencies, law enforcement agencies, health departments, and fire departments.
Texas HB3 aims to enhance school safety and security in schools throughout the state, and it will go into effect on September 1, 2023. The legislation provides $15,000 per campus for school safety and security improvements, which includes panic alert technology. The language of the bill is intentionally technology-agnostic, indicating that technology that is eligible for funding can include solutions such as silent panic alert devices, two-way radios, or wireless Internet booster equipment. This includes software-based panic alert solutions and has been confirmed by the TEA. Read our blog to learn more about Texas HB3.
At the center of the Raptor Emergency Management Suite is Raptor Alert. Raptor Alert is a silent panic alert system that works on the devices your schools use every day. Raptor Alert expedites and streamlines emergency response by allowing users to initiate an emergency directly through 911 and provide critical information to first responders, law enforcement, and campus personnel.
The “I Love U Guys” Foundation, a well-known school safety organization, has an extensive set of emergency response protocols, including the Standard Response Protocol® (SRP) and the Standard Reunification Method™ (SRM). As a mission partner, Raptor is fully aligned with these protocols and officially licensed by the Foundation to include them in our Emergency Management software.
When using Raptor® Emergency Management, you can be confident that everyone is following these protocols and speaking the same language during any emergency.
Raptor Alert was designed to work under duress with simple navigation and built-in collaboration with critical response and emergency services experts. The same app is used for critical emergencies and everyday incidents, so staff learns one system to summon help. Now, with the advanced innovation of Raptor Connect, schools can take full advantage of digital emergency response technologies by activating all from a single point.
Eliminate the risk of an audible phone call with the option to silently alert and share critical information through RapidSOS with 911 dispatchers.
Customize alerts based on incident type to ensure the appropriate personnel is notified.
During emergencies, users can activate Raptor Alert by pressing the Alertus Wearable Panic Button.
Once an alert is initiated, users can utilize real-time group messaging and data sharing through their Raptor Alert app.
The compact and lightweight design makes the panic button easy to adopt and can be a solution for substitute teachers who may not have access to Raptor Alert.
Rechargeable battery lasts for months and includes a test button to confirm functionality
Configure your wearable panic buttons to initiate a one-step activation of existing mass notification solutions through Raptor Connect, like strobe lights, intercoms, or alarms.
When time equals life, every second of clear communication can make all the difference. That is why Raptor Alert supports standard E911 services, is RapidSOS Ready™, and is fully compatible with all standard Public Safety Answering Points and emergency calling infrastructure.
Raptor automatically shares caller information with 911 dispatchers, including caller name, callback number, precise location—down to which building they are in—school name and address, and type of emergency.
From approving all entrants, managing volunteers, and confidently responding to any emergency, you can address every aspect of your school’s safety—all in one, user-friendly integrated suite.
The state of Texas has allocated funds for implementing school safety requirements. The following programs include purchasing silent panic alert technology.
The deadline to submit the Cycle 2 funding application was May 28, 2024
$275,024,497 from Cycle 2 has been allocated to 1190 school entities for certifying compliance with the adopted school safety standards applicable to Chapter 61, Sub-chapter CC, 61.031 of Commissioner’s Rules. School entities that are already in compliance will be able to utilize grant funds for other security measures such as active shooter/emergency response training, threat reporting systems; prevention, identification, and management of emergencies and threats; and more.
$821,575,503 from Cycle 1 was allocated to 554 school entities. The deadline to apply was January 8, 2024, and the grant period ends July 2025. Allowable expenses for Cycle 1 include silent panic alert technology, maintenance/service contracts for these systems, comprehensive school safety software systems if the silent panic alert technology is the main component, and more.
Totaling $400 million, the 2022-2025 School Safety Standards Formula Grant provides funds for LEAs to meet the new school safety standards and other security related costs. The purpose of this project is to first allow LEAs to implement the new safety standards applicable to Chapter 61, Sub-chapter CC, 61.031 of Commissioner’s Rules.
A sample application can be found here.
How schools can use these funds
Initially, grant funds may only be expended to meet minimum compliance to implement the new safety standards, which includes Silent Panic Alert Technology.
| Minimum Compliance Allowable Expenses | Raptor Compliance |
|---|---|
| Purchase and installation of silent panic alert technology. | Raptor Alert silent panic alert technology enables teachers and staff to quickly initiate a response to an emergency from any hard-wired, cellular, or wireless device. Users can initiate an alert directly through 911 and provide critical information to first responders, law enforcement, and campus personnel. Includes a real-time group messaging feature for all users. |
| Either solely or in combination with other funds, to purchase comprehensive school safety software systems that include, but not limited to, visitor screening, safety drills, response to emergencies, and reunification but only if the silent panic alert technology is a primary component of the comprehensive system. | The Raptor School Safety Suite ties together the critical aspects of safety throughout your campus, from prevention through recovery, in a cohesive, easy-to-use software suite. The comprehensive system includes: Raptor Visitor Management, Raptor Drill Manager, Raptor Alert, Raptor Reunification . |
| Other Allowable Items | Raptor Compliance |
|---|---|
| School safety and security training and planning, including active shooter and emergency response training. | The Raptor Compliance & Success Program provides a series of highly intentional professional services for the successful implementation, adoption and usage of Raptor Emergency Management products throughout your district. |
| School safety and security training and planning, including the prevention, identification, and management of emergencies and threats, using evidence-based, effective prevention practices. | Raptor StudentSafe brings together the systems that help schools recognize, document, support and manage the wellbeing of individual students. The intuitive and robust platform includes safeguarding and behavioral threat assessment (BTA) methodologies which are proven to help schools recognize a student in need of early intervention and support for their wellbeing. |
Totaling 17.1 million, these funds have been allocated to LEAs for the purchase of silent panic alert technologies, such as Raptor Alert, for campuses as a measure of school safety. It may include:
That requirement satisfied, here are additional guidelines the state has for this grant’s use:
| Requirement | Raptor Compliance |
|---|---|
| An alert capable of being triggered manually by campus staff. | Raptor Alert empowers all campus staff to trigger alerts based on your emergency response protocols such as a lockdown, evacuation, etc. |
| An alert is triggered automatically in the event a district employee calls 911 from any location within the school system. | Raptor Alert enables all campus staff to initiate an alert and call 911 (or text 911 where available) from any location, all within the mobile application. |
| With any alert generated, the location of where the alert originated shall be included. | A Raptor Alert incident can show the location of the initiator in the chat feature of the application. Additionally, real-time messaging sent from Raptor Alert to 911 dispatch includes the precise on-campus location of the caller. |
| The alert notifies a set of designated school administrators as needed to provide confirmation of response, and if confirmed, notice is issued to law enforcement and emergency responder agencies of an emergency situation requiring a law enforcement and/or emergency response, and a notice can simultaneously be issued to all school staff of the need to follow appropriate emergency procedures. | Raptor Alert enables customers a great deal of configuration flexibility. Raptor can be configured to notify selected personnel and allow them to make the decision on whether to initiate a campus-wide emergency and/or emergency responders or, alternatively, Raptor can support a workflow that enables any user to immediately initiate an incident, including the option to notify emergency responders. |
| For any exterior doors that features electronic locking mechanisms that allow for remote locking, the alert system will trigger those doors to automatically lock and to automatically notify relevant campus staff of any door where the lock cannot engage. | Raptor Alert features an integration interface called Raptor Connect that enables native, bi-directional integration with a school’s digital security systems and peripherals, such as access control, mass communication, VOIP phones, and much more. Raptor Connect is available to schools and integrators at no charge. For districts with electronic locking mechanisms that allow for remote locking, Raptor will work with your vendor to integrate and define workflows. |
With the money allocated per school, Texas districts can purchase the entire Emergency Management Suite which includes Drill Manager, Raptor Alert, Accountability and Reunification.
Preliminary award notifications made: November 1, 2023
Totaling $93,985,252, the FY23 Stronger Connections Grant through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) provides funds for Texas LEAs to provide students with safer learning environments.
Allowable expenses include trauma-informed practices, emergency plan development, site assessments, and more.
The FY24 Nonprofit Security Grant Program will provide up to $150,000 (per eligible applicant) to non-profit organizations throughout Texas for projects that support physical security enhancements and other security activities.
Allowable expenses include planning related to the protection of nonprofit facilities and the people within them, target hardening equipment, physical security enhancements, security-related training courses, programs, and exercises for nonprofit security personnel, and more.
Effective May 5, 2023, Alyssa’s Law (SB 838/HB 669) was passed in Texas. This bill requires school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to provide silent panic alert technology in classrooms beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.
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