Arkansas lawmakers are considering a bill to provide all public school employees with wearable panic button devices. House Bill 1492 is sponsored by State Representative Zack Gramlich (R-Fort Smith) who is also an Arkansas educator. As Little Rock Public Radio reports, Gramlich explained, “I don’t have a way to tell the school immediately, like ‘hey, like lock up.’ I have to send out, contact my office and tell them down there. Phone call, text, button on the wall, email, whatever, and that’s minutes that could be saved, when all I had to do is ‘one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and the school’s notified immediately.”
During testimony before the Arkansas House Education Committee, on Thursday, March 6, Gramlich recalled an incident this school year when a panic button would have proven very helpful in a classroom situation. A student with a past history of violence had a box cutter knife in his possession while in class. Gramlich says he first texted the school office, and with no immediate response he then thought of calling the front office. But Gramlich explained he also wanted to avoid any action on his part which might become a potential trigger for the student to perceive as a threat.
Gramlich also invited Lori Alhadeff to testify in support of HB-1492. Her daughter, 14-year-old Alyssa, became one of the 17 shooting victims to die in the Parkland, Florida school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018. In the wake of the tragedy, Alhadeff spearheaded an effort to require public schools to be equipped with “silent panic alarms directly linked to law enforcement.” It became known as Alyssa’s Law in Florida and has become law in a total of seven states, including Texas and Oklahoma. Arkansas is one of 16 states now considering the same law. Alhadeff, reading from prepared remarks, urged committee members to support HB-1492. “Do it for your children, do it for your teachers, and do that so no other parent should live with the heartbreak that I carry every single day.”
The subject of funding came up several times, with questions including who would be paying for this panic button system for school districts across the state of Arkansas. Gramlich told committee members he estimates the cost to be about $8,000 for a large campus. Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva supports the legislation. He suggested that existing funds could be used for statewide procurement, to address financial concerns. After an hour of debate, Gramlich agreed to pull the bill to make revisions.
