Oklahoma schools will roll out an honorary school safety law this August.
It’s titled ‘Alyssa’s Law,’ after Alyssa Alhadeff, a 14-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. As soon as August, all districts across the state will implement a mobile panic alert system in their schools.
Cynthia Ralston, who has four young grandchildren in the Tulsa area, said with the world we live in, having a plan for the worst-case scenarios gives her some peace of mind.
“I don’t think that the world is getting any safer,” said Ralston. “I think whatever laws they need to pass to keep our kids safe is probably a good thing.”
Interim Chief of Police for Tulsa Public Schools Donnie Lewis explained that TPS is already in compliance with the new legislation, as they use the Rave Panic Button app.
“We’ve had that in place for about two years, and it’s a really comprehensive panic button system,” said Lewis. “If there’s an incident that takes place, they open the app, slide a little lock bar and they hold it for three seconds. It puts a geo-pin where they’re located, and then it does an all call so it’s not just TPS that responds, it’s TPD, OHP and our law enforcement partners and then every police officer who works for us, that gives them an all call alarm on their phones and then everybody responds.”