Beyond the Bell: How Tuscaloosa County Schools Scaled Safety Across 36 Campuses

Overview

Location: Tuscaloosa County, Alabama 
Schools: 36
Students: 19,000
Faculty and Staff: 2,400

Serving over 19,000 students, the Tuscaloosa County School System (TCSS) operates 36 schools throughout Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. The system employs approximately 2,400 faculty and staff members and serves a substantial geographic area – one of the largest school systems in Alabama.

Challenge

In 2021, TCSS recognized a need to modernize their emergency communication. While their existing two-way radio system was a staple for administrators, the signal could be inconsistent in certain interior areas. TCSS's main goal was to improve the radio system while also enabling alerts to be distributed to cell phones and computer screens, to ensure that no alert would be left unseen or heard.

The Solution: Intelligent Integration

As the Data Manager for TCSS, Kirk Junkin provides support and insight into school safety initiatives, and manages software products that integrate with the school's student information system. Seeking to improve internal communication, Junkin and his team required a system that could easily integrate with their current infrastructure and reliably broadcast clear, highly enunciated alerts over their two-way radio system. 

Leveraging their existing setup, they discovered that Alertus Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology was exactly what they needed to add to their existing county-wide Motorola digital network. Additionally, they deployed Alertus Desktop™ Notification software across their schools and distributed over 2,700 WiFi Panic Buttons to faculty and staff.

Customizing for Real-World Needs

Alertus has significantly enhanced communication within TCSS by providing the capability to create custom event alerts. Their primary concern is severe weather alerting, and the Alertus Console addresses this by automatically pulling data from the National Weather Service and having preset templates available to instantly send alerts to up to 300 individuals. 

A core component of TCSS's 2024-2029 Strategic Plan is fostering an environment where all students and employees feel safe and confident, and achieving a secure school environment is fundamentally linked to having the right emergency notification technology in place.

Seamless Implementation 

Junkin has found the entire Alertus System to be especially user-friendly when it comes to developing and sending severe weather notifications directly to administrators. Currently, TCSS is collaborating with Alertus to integrate the AlertAware® Mobile App into their system, adding another layer to their internal communication capabilities. For external communications, they use a separate system run by their public relations team.

The synergy between Alertus and TCSS made the implementation process exceptionally smooth, which is always a key factor in the success of a large-scale project. “The entire deployment experience was great while getting the system up and running,” said Junkin. “Everyone involved has been, and continues to be, incredibly helpful.”