New app being used for school safety

McCOOK, Neb. — A new safety app used at McCook Public Schools can send out an alert in seconds in case of an emergency.

MPS first started using the Raptor app last year and is continuing this fall to practice drills with the app, Superintendent Grant Norgaard told the McCook School Board Monday night at the regular meeting.

The app is designed to silently alert others in the district of an emergency, such as an intruder, unknown person or fire/tornado. With one touch on a cell phone, an alert is sent out, including to law enforcement. Computers can also be used at the administrative level. Everyone in the school system has the app, including teachers, paraprofessionals, maintenance staff and students.

In addition to sending out an alert, the app also tracks a lockdown situation or if an evacuation is taking place from any of the school district’s buildings. It can communicate with parents and others in the district what offsite location is being used in an evacuation and can also immediately identify if a student is missing from an evacuation.

A variety of drills using the app have taken place at the school district since last year, Norgaard said. This includes drills for fire, tornado, bus evacuation and lockdowns. There have been no drills in student evacuation this fall, but one was done last year and another could be planned in the future, he said.