CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott publicly signed Alyssa's Law, which requires public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to put silent panic alert buttons in each classroom.
Alyssa Alhadeff was 14 years old when she was killed in 2018, after a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
CCISD Police Chief Kirby Warnke said each of their classrooms already has a panic button. Each classroom in every school has a phone that is used to contact workers, or anyone in the front office. On that phone, there's a small panic button in case of any emergency.
"It's a way to communicate out of the classroom to administration and law enforcement. For us, if they hit the panic button, my dispatch gets notified, the front office at the campus gets notified, and my office at my headquarters gets notified," he said.
Warnke said CCISD classrooms have had a panic button for several years, and its been used a few times.
"You could have a medical issue going on inside the classroom or something and it could get law enforcement, first responders out there pretty quick," he said. "We have police on campus so it's pretty quick. If nothing else, we'll try to call back. The majority of them are accidental, so it tests us, but we're going to come every time."
As for the schools that do not have panic buttons in classrooms, they will soon have to get them as the law will become a new standard.
CCISD is also looking to add 33 more police officers to their campuses to add safety protocols.
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