Idaho Officials Respond After Numerous Reports of School Threats
AMERICAN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — In a story about new school safety technology, The Associated Press reported erroneously that the American Falls School District implemented the software in response to school threats made in recent weeks to districts around the state. The software effort was implemented more than a month ago, and not in response to any recent threats.
A corrected version of the story is below:
AMERICAN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — One eastern Idaho school district is implementing new safety software designed to connect staffers with local police to ease communication during an emergency.
The Idaho State Journal reports American Falls School District Superintendent Randy Jensen says the district has implemented new software called DIR-S.
The software, which is downloaded as an application on a cellphone, features maps of the district's schools. During an emergency situation, teachers can indicate whether their classrooms are secure, and responding police officers can see on the maps which classrooms are safe and which classrooms are not.
Several school districts across the state have reported getting threats against schools in the last few weeks, and Bannock County Sheriff Lorin Nielsen says an increase in such threats is not uncommon after a school shooting like the one in Parkland, Florida.
Jensen said his district has not received any threats in recent weeks, however, and the software implementation has been in the works for more than a month.