February 21, 2020
Midlands School District Gives Students New Tool To Anonymously Report Incidents
Written by: Tim Scott
Some students might be scared to come forward about incidents involving their peers because their name might be attached.
Now, with the STOPit App, administrators in middle and high schools across Lexington Richland School District Five can respond to incidents in real-time without knowing who submitted a report.
“The option of having this anonymous reporting app is a great one because it gets that chance to start that dialogue and starts to let them let go of some of that stuff, and not just let them focus on it and eat them up,” said Michael Carothers, the Assistant Principal at Chapin Middle School.
If students, teachers, and staff experience an incident, they can simply go on the app, click report, fill out information about the incident, and within seconds, administrators will respond.
“This way it’s going to come straight to us. We’ll determine who needs that information. Being anonymous allows them to reach out, and reach out to one of us so we can hear what they have to say,” said Anita Long, the Assistant Principal at Chapin Middle School.
The president of STOPit Solutions, the company that makes the app, says the technology is being used in 28 school districts across the state, serving more than 330 schools.
Leaders with Lexington Richland School District Five say this gives students the strength to report incidents without fear of retaliation.
“We want our students to feel empowered with this tool to speak up, to say something, and it allows us to immediately become aware with their concerns so that we can intervene much quicker and in a much more timely fashion,” said Kelly Brown, the Student Safety Officer at Lexington Richland School District Five.
Lexington Richland School District Five has already introduced the app on all student devices in middle and high schools, and plan on rolling it out to all of their schools.
Curious why over 5,000 organizations worldwide are using STOPit’s anonymous reporting software and 24/7/365 monitoring services?
