KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Tennessee law requires all school systems to at least consider adding a panic button to their school safety tool kits. WVLT looked at all school systems in East Tennessee to see where they stand.

This latest report comes after dozens of school threats in East Tennessee prompted emergency responses. In some school systems, panic buttons offer a sense of security for staff and students should the worst happen.

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There’s no shortage of buttons in Oak Ridge, according to the school system’s Molly Smith Gallagher.

“Every employee has one, and we wear them on our lanyards,” he said, adding that the buttons allow responders to get to the scene quickly.

“You don’t pick up your phone, you don’t try to contact a manager,” he said. “Each staff member has the ability to push a button and get a response there, get support, direct people to where they need to be, and alert people that this is a real situation that needs to be locked down.”

We reached out to every major school system in East Tennessee to see if they were using the buttons. Only 14 school systems responded; some said they used buttons, while others said they took other security measures.

They are working on placing buttons in schools for other school systems, but they are not being used yet.

JC Bowman is with Professional Educators of Tennessee. He said most of the districts he spoke to are in favor of buttons, but cost could be an issue.

“There are a lot of things that cost a lot of money, so on the priority scale maybe those are tier two or three for them,” he said.

Gallagher said he is pleased to have a button on every teacher for Oak Ridge Schools.

“In a worse-case scenario, if something like this were to happen, we feel really good that we made it in the response time,” he said. “We provide the best possible safety for our students and staff.”

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