By MATT LAMB
Staff Writer
Moore County Schools will look to further bolster its emergency management system by potentially purchasing and implementing the Centegix Safety Platform. The Board of Education met at a work session on Monday to discuss the program and its host of safety measures.
Centegix is a fully integrated system that includes visitor management with real-time monitoring of all campus visitors, a campus mapping tool, a wearable crisis-alert badge, and a coordinated communication system aimed at reunifying students with their authorized guardians in the event of an emergency.
If adopted by the board, the program will eventually replace two existing platforms: Active Defender and the Raptor Visitor Management System.
Active Defender is a locally developed smartphone-based app. When initially implemented, the program was a cutting-edge product. The mobile app allows school staff to relay information about campus violence and other emergencies.
Developed by Carthage software developer and pastor Jim Boyte, the program was rolled out across campus laptops and teacher devices and linked to local law enforcement.
According to district staff, Active Defender is more complex than Centegix and has some shortcomings.
Centegix’s Crisis Alert system is a wearable “panic button” that allows school staff to get help during an emergency. The technology is worn on a lanyard and looks similar to a common access card but employs a button that can alert responders to a specific location.
The badge has a one-button activation system, “enabling quick action under duress.” The system operates on a privately installed network, independent from Wi-Fi and cellular networks, and connects to strobes and intercoms across campus.
“Most times, schools are dealing with medical emergencies, altercations between students, those kinds of emergencies, which I’m thankful for that they’re not the armed intruder kind,” said Tracy Metcalf, the district’s director for student support services. “This one-step button allows a teacher to summon an immediate response for either one of those things. So, if an altercation within the classroom, or a medical emergency, a fight in the gym, they press the button three times, and that goes to the responders within the school.”
Metcalf added that in the event of an armed intruder, a staff member needs only to press the button between six and eight times to signal a lockdown announcement and a strobe light signal.
“It also immediately alerts 911,” she said, “so those first responders can respond as well.”
The Centegix visitor management system also pairs with the state-mandated Infinite Campus portal. “It will screen for sexual offenses and custody issues, and we can also upload our custom banned list,” Metcalf said. “So, if an adult for some reason is banned off one of our campuses, that will be noted as well.”
Visitors will receive a badge that allows the school to pinpoint their location at all times while on campus.
Centegix offers a five-year contract with an initial first-year implementation cost of just under $351,000. Years two through five will cost the district $200,100 annually for a total contract cost of $1.15 million.
Active Defender, which the district has a contract through 2026, runs just over $23,500 a year. The district implemented the Raptor Visitor Management System during the 2024-2025 school year for an initial cost of $47,500. The district is under contract with Raptor until 2027, with an annual fee of $17,710 for the second and third years.
The school board will vote on the Centegix system next Monday, March 10, at 5:30 p.m., at the Central Office at 5227 U.S. 15-501 in Carthage.
Contact Matt Lamb at (910) 693-2479 or mlamb@thepilot.com.
