$13,000 life-saving app is free of cost for Hancock County school districts

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Rave panic button, an app that can alert the authorities, fire department, or medics within 15-30 seconds of pressing a button is now coming at no charge for Hancock County school districts. The Hancock County Commissioners agreed to pay for it on behalf of the schools.

“Our schools can’t be successful at all if they’re not safe, so we have to have operation dollars that we’re putting forward,” Dr. Harold Olin, Greenfield-Central Schools Superintendent, said.

According to Hancock County 911, the app cost $13,000 per year. Hancock County school districts have it paid for by the county for the next five years, a massive help in cutting down costs for school safety.

“The last upgrade we did to the surveillance cameras here at the high school would have been in that $75,000 range,” Olin said. “[It’s] over $80,000 a year for one school resource officer.”

Olin said his district grew to having four school resource officers after just having one. He says the districts does get a $100,000 grant for school safety from the state of Indiana, but the money goes by fast.

“We’ve made huge adjustments to our facilities and made sure we have safe secured entries, buzzer systems, [and] a lot more key fobbing,” Olin said.

Olin says it can be hard to find a balance between paying for additional needs inside the classroom, like teachers or books, and new technology or safety measures. Teachers like Laken Rosing tells I-Team 8 she’s had to think about putting her own life on the line.

“I’ve had students who have said, ‘Mrs. Rosing, would you be willing to die for me?’” the Greenfield-Central High School English teacher explained. “That’s one of the things that we are agreeing to when we step into that classroom is to protect those kids,” Rosing said.