For the 2023-2024 school year, The Woodlands High School staff have the option to installed the Rave 9-1-1 Panic Button. Created by Rave Mobile Safety to help “reduce the time before help reaches you” in an emergency situation, the app sends information of your location to 9-1-1 dispatchers and notifies any onsite for immediate assistance. For TWHS teachers, the app is ge0-fenced to allow it to function only at school.
Main app features
The front page of the app features five ‘panic buttons;’ fire, medical, police, and a big red panic button for active assailants. The user has to click each button for them to call 9-1-1 with the emergency type, location and information, and notify any onsite individuals.
At the bottom of the home page is a tab called ‘staff assist,’ where 9-1-1 will not be called, but onsite individuals will be notified.
Only those “authorized by a participating organization” are able to fully use this app, according to Rave Mobile Safety.
Reviews: digital and real
I asked some of my teachers their thoughts on this new app; two specific teachers had interesting perspectives.
Mrs. Palmisano-Lopez – or, just “Mrs. P” – moved to The Woodlands from the Dallas area, this year being her first teaching health science courses at TWHS. She had said that her old school was newer, so instead of a Rave-like app, they had buttons built into the walls that would notify authorities when pushed.
Mr. Balluck, an AP World History and AP Seminar teacher, had a different perspective on the app than most. I had overheard him in class one day talking about how he refused to download it. “I got little kids,” he said. When I asked why this was important, he explained that his children frequently grab phones and open up random apps. He was worried about them opening the Rave app and pressing on one of the panic buttons. “And knowing my luck,” he said, “they’ll find a way.”
Going digital, the Apple Store rating is a 3.6 and a 3.8 on the Google Play Store. Suncoast Academy and Northeastern University both rated it 5 stars, calling the app “powerful” and saying that it “saves lives” in the reviews. However, there are a good amount of 1-star ratings, critiquing the app’s pricing and software bugs.
There are, however, many people asking for an Apple Watch version of the app. User cbug2009 voiced this concern on October 17, 2022, saying that they “only wished it had an extension in case I set my phone down.” As of September 2023, Rave Mobile Safety has only said that it is something they are “looking into.”
An app that automatically calls 9-1-1 at the press of a button is useful. But, if it accidently opens or somebody clicks on it, there’s a chance that it will dial without meaning to. Overall, I believe the app to be a good – albeit, a little scary – idea.
