Podcast Summary: “Campus Safety Redefined: District Priorities and Emerging Tech”

Podcast: School Business Insider
Host: John Brucato
Guest: John Vetter, Sentegix
Date: December 9, 2025

Overview

This episode of School Business Insider explores the evolving landscape of K-12 campus safety and how emerging technologies are changing the way districts approach protection for students, staff, and communities. Host John Brucato sits down with John Vetter of Sentegix, a leading provider of wearable safety technology and incident response platforms, to dive into budget priorities, technology integration, culture change, and what true safety readiness means today.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Broadening Concept of School Safety

• Beyond Lockdowns: Safety is no longer limited to lockdown drills and access control. The concept now encompasses visitor management, staff training, layered emergency response, and more.

  • “It’s much broader than just a lockdown… It’s the incidences in school, it’s visitor management… It’s a layered approach: walkie talkies, SROs, and other pieces.” – John Vetter [01:50]

• Staff Training & Onboarding: Staff at every level, including substitutes and new hires, must receive regular, clear instructions—sometimes as simple as a pamphlet or ‘one pager’—to make protocols accessible and reduce anxiety during emergencies.

  • “You’re really only as strong as your weakest link… Everybody’s responsible in some capacity.” – John Brucato [02:33]

Budgeting for Safety: Grants, Challenges, and Priorities

• Safety is High, But Resources are Tight: Budgets are always under pressure, but keeping students and staff safe is consistently a top priority for district leaders. Districts must balance safety spending with other critical needs.

  • “Parents, the community want those buildings…safe to everyone there. But when it gets down to…how much does something cost…there’s a lot of push and pull.” – John Vetter [05:47]

• Funding Sources: Many districts rely on grants, like the federal COPS grant, or combine grant funding with general funds and capital improvements. However, grants are competitive and rejection is common, necessitating backup plans.

  • “Sometimes [a] grant is rejected, it goes away. You just have to shift and pivot to make that work.” – John Vetter [11:48]
  • “We try to be very upfront…how we can go about putting the funding together for, for the district and hopefully deploy it for them.” – John Vetter [08:29]

• Hidden Barriers: Aside from funding, timing, internal buy-in, technology integration, and cross-departmental communication are common hurdles in implementation.

  • “It’s not just one person. The superintendent can’t just decide—we have to get buy-in from all departments.” – John Vetter [10:03]

Evolving Mindsets: Safety as Culture, Not Compliance

• From Checklist to Culture: Most districts now view safety as a strategic investment that supports teacher retention, community trust, and the overall learning environment—going well beyond state-mandated drills.
  • “80% of the time, it’s a bigger conversation… We want parents to feel great that when they send their kids to school…they can perform and feel great.” – John Vetter [13:03]

Emerging Technology: Wearables Redefine Campus Safety

• Empowering Individuals: Wearable badges serve as a “shield,” giving every staff member instant access to help—wherever they are on campus, without needing cell phones or proximity to wall-mounted panic buttons.
  • “The ability for [staff] to feel great in the common area, the parking lot, the playground, the ball fields, the maintenance sheds, the bus barns…to call for help at any given time…is a big deal.” – John Vetter [14:41]
  • “I grab my keys, my phone, my bag, my lunch bag, and my Senetjix wearable coming to school.” – Teacher quoted by John Vetter [14:41]

How the System Works

• Wireless badges have multi-year batteries and require no charging or app downloads.
• A press of the badge (typically three intentional clicks) alerts designated responders inside the building, notifies them with exact location mapping, and can escalate to law enforcement in critical scenarios.
  • “It’s not tracking them, but…if they see something…they hit that badge…alerts responders assigned to the building, mapping the exact location, so they can respond immediately.” – John Vetter [16:19]
• The lift for IT teams is minimal—installation is wireless and easily layers onto existing infrastructure through APIs.
  • “Keep [current systems], just add this layer to it. It will also be the area where it’ll launch off to…create an alert here or…over there.” – John Vetter [18:45]

Reliability & Intentional Use

• False positives are rare, as the badge requires a deliberate press, ensuring alerts are purposeful.

  • “You have to intentionally press it with your thumb with a little bit of energy…false positives are very, very far and few between.” – John Vetter [20:50]

• Teachers and principals report a strong sense of safety and empowerment; being able to summon help instantly is transformative.

  • “It’s like a shield…to have [the badge] on you, to know that help can come to you literally within seconds is very, very powerful.” – District Principal quoted by John Vetter [22:03]

Best Practices & Implementation Insights

• Do’s and Don’ts:
  • Involve all stakeholders (tech, safety, police, admin) early.
    • “If you don’t bring in the folks that need to touch it and work with it…it becomes ‘what are we doing?’” – John Vetter [28:24]
  • Demand apples-to-apples comparison from vendors, especially regarding features like wireless strobes for location and drill coverage.
    • “Make sure [in bids] that…strobes are being included not only from the device itself, but is the installation being included?” – John Vetter [23:46]
  • Ensure the deployment is accompanied by ongoing training and systemic practice to embed into culture.
    • “The culture of safety…is constant training of their staff…allowing them to feel like they’re drilling with it, they’re practicing with it…and now it’s become systemic.” – John Vetter [26:46]

Measuring Success: Data, ROI, and Real-World Impact

• Systems like Sentegix provide dashboards tracking all alert types, their frequency, and locations, helping boards and leaders justify investments and continuously improve.
  • “The ability…to track any kind of event…allows the board…to go, ‘wow, this is amazing. What would we have done if we didn’t have this for this cardiac arrest?’” – John Vetter [30:19]
• The ROI goes beyond rare “active shooter” events to include all health and behavioral emergencies.
  • “Medical emergencies account for like 65 to 70% of the three clicks…could be a stroke, could be a peanut allergy, could be anything.” – John Vetter [33:31]

Notable Case

• In a Georgia school shooting, the system enabled the shooter’s apprehension in just over 2 minutes, underscoring that speed and location data provide real, life-saving value.
  • “They had the shooter apprehended within like 125 seconds, which is a little over two minutes, which is insane.” – John Vetter [33:31]

Sustaining Safety and Looking Ahead

• Leadership continuity is essential for systemic safety culture; the superintendent must set the tone, but plans must outlast any individual leader.

  • “As long as the leadership is driving those narratives…everyone else will be like, well, if John takes this seriously…then I have to too.” – John Vetter [35:42]
  • “We want that to be systemic. So when…the super[intendent] left…’these are the protocols we have in place…here’s the data to prove it.” – John Vetter [37:06]

• Future Tech: Threat detection, AI-enabled analytics, social media monitoring, and even drones for emergencies are on the horizon.

  • “We see threat detection, threat assessments…drones that could be deployed if there’s an active shooter on campus…we’re seeing all kinds of pieces.” – John Vetter [38:01]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It’s like a shield…to know that help can come to you and literally within seconds is very, very powerful.” – John Vetter quoting district staff [22:03]
• “If you’re buying this just for the active shooter, that’s one thing…and you could do that just an ex[tra]…insurance policy. [But] it’s…what’s happening Monday through Friday—medical emergencies, behavior issues…” – John Vetter [33:31]
• "You want them to feel really empowered in that, in that space...You just do the best you can to make it happen." – John Vetter [13:03]
• “It’s not a king’s ransom…It’s something that is affordable…see if it’s something that ultimately could fit and should fit in really every district.” – John Vetter [39:19]

Key Timestamps for Major Segments

• School Safety’s Broader Definition & Staff Training: [01:23]–[04:39]
• Budget, Grants & Funding Barriers: [05:12]–[11:48]
• Culture vs. Compliance; Community Trust: [12:28]–[14:04]
• Wearable Tech—How It Works & Impact: [14:41]–[19:56]
• False Alarms & Staff Response: [20:35]–[22:03]
• Implementation Advice & Avoiding Pitfalls: [23:27]–[29:51]
• Data, ROI, and Justification: [30:19]–[33:31]
• Role of Leadership; Making Safety Systemic: [35:12]–[37:06]
• Emerging Tech, Advice to School Business Officials: [37:47]–[39:58]

Final Takeaways

• School safety now demands a multifaceted, culture-driven approach with individual empowerment as a core element.
• Wearable technologies like Sentegix badges provide intuitive, reliable, and quickly deployable tools that are reshaping the sense of security and practical response capability on campus.
• Sustainable safety efforts require leadership commitment, systemic practices, careful budgeting, and data-driven communications with stakeholders.
• The future will bring even more advanced threat detection and response solutions—districts must stay proactive in evaluation and adoption.

Advice to School Business Officials:

“It is not a king’s ransom…something that is affordable…take you down the path of education, modeling of what other districts have been doing…see if it’s something that ultimately could fit and should fit in really every district.” – John Vetter [39:19]