HIGH POINT, N.C. — Phoenix Academy in High Point is the first and only school in the Triad to have an active shooter detection system.
The technology comes from an Irish Company, Johnson Controls, and uses sensors placed throughout the schools.
Now, in light of recent school shootings like the one at UNC Charlotte, a High Point City council-member wants all of the cities' public schools to have it, too.
The resolution is on tonight's High Point City Council meeting agenda.
Jason Ewing is the council-member spearheading the pilot program for public schools in High Point.
This active shooter detection system immediately alerts 911 and locks down schools as soon as a gun is fired on school property.
He says because Phoenix Academy already has this system in place, it's just a matter of taking it up a notch and expanding it at a public school level.
"At this point it's just a matter of beefing up the level of technology, the bandwidth, so we can cover more schools," Ewing said.
Ewing says a major hurdles will be the fact that public schools in High Point are part of the larger Guilford County schools system, meaning the City of Greensboro and other municipalities may also need to get on board if passed by the General Assembly.
Ewing explained council members wouldn't be against the entire county being part of the program.
"We've got 23 public schools in High Point and if the legislature wanted to say 'We would rather fund all the Guilford County Schools to do this so we have a larger sample' then that'd be great," he said.
According to city council documents, police, first responders, teachers, and other staff would need to be trained in the use of the technology.
Once the request is resolved at this evening's City council meeting, it moves on to the North Carolina General Assembly as a request for funding.
We'll be following the city's moves closely and bring you the latest as soon as we learn more.
