Wake expanding use of panic button smartphone app that it says will make schools safer
Most Wake County schools will begin having access Monday to a panic button smartphone app that will allow teachers to communicate with each other and 911 in an emergency.
Wake school safety staff will roll out the RAVE panic button app on Feb. 17 in 130 schools with the remaining schools getting access this spring. The app will allow teachers and other school employees to press a button on their phone indicating if there’s a police, fire, medical or other emergency.
The app will provide the person’s location to 911 as well as notify designated people at the school. During an emergency, the app allows for emergency operation plans, evacuation routes, floor plans and other critical information to be uploaded and made available to staff and first responders.
“The beauty of this is we know people always have their cell phone most of the time,” Kendrick Scott, senior director of security, told the school board’s safety and security committee on Tuesday. “So I feel confident this will make our schools safer when we deploy this. The nice part is the state paid for this.”
The state is providing $4.7 million for school districts and charter schools to use the RAVE panic button app.
Wake rolling out RAVE in 130 schools
Wake piloted the program last spring in 28 schools before deciding to roll it out district-wide. Wake began training people in its use in October and getting all local 911 centers fully set up to receive and monitor RAVE alerts.
The app will only be available for teachers and other school staff, but downloading it will be optional. Juan Cuartas, director of special operations in the security department, said 8,591 school employees have updated their contact information to use the app.
Wake is rolling RAVE out in three phases of 65 schools each. Phases 1 and 2 will roll out next week.
In addition to school-based staff, Cuartas said Central Services staff will also get access to RAVE based on their job functions.
School crimes in Wake County
A new state report released last week found that Wake County reported a 15.1% decrease in school crime last school year. But the number of assaults on school personnel more than doubled from 88 in the 2022-23 school year to 204 last school year.
Possession of a controlled substance dropped by 27% and possession of a weapon that’s not a firearm dropped by 16%. Possession of a controlled substance accounted for 45% of school crimes in Wake.
Possession of a firearm dropped from 18 to eight cases. Sexual assaults dropped from 28 to nine cases.
Wake had one death by non-natural causes recorded in the state’s schools in the 2023-24 school year. In November 2023, a Southeast Raleigh High School was fatally stabbed in the school’s gym. A classmate has been charged with murder.
This story was originally published February 11, 2025 at 1:46 PM.
