Wearable Panic Button Alerts Rise in US Schools
A new report reveals that school staff are increasingly using wearable devices to manage daily behavioral and medical emergencies.
- By Jesse Jacobs
- June 24, 2026
School safety alerts from wearable panic buttons jumped 31% over the past academic year, according to a newly released industry analysis.
The 2026 School Safety Trends Report, which analyzed more than 346,000 alerts nationwide during the 2025–2026 school year, found that the vast majority of emergency button activations were for localized, everyday incidents rather than campus-wide threats.
According to the data, 88% of panic button activations stemmed from behavioral situations, including physical fights and students leaving campus without permission. Medical emergencies, such as seizures and cardiac arrests, accounted for another 10% of the alerts. Only 1% of the total notifications involved extreme threats requiring full campus lockdowns.
The findings also emphasize the necessity of campus-wide tracking coverage. More than half of all logged incidents occurred outside traditional classrooms, with 17% in hallways, 10% in exterior areas and 3% in cafeterias.
In one cited incident from September 2025 at S.L. Mason Elementary School in Valdosta, Georgia, an administrator used a wearable badge to trigger a full campus lockdown within 37 seconds after gunfire erupted outside a visitor entrance. Nobody was injured.
Legislation is further driving the adoption of these technologies. Legislative measures like Alyssa's Law and new school mapping mandates are placing greater pressure on school districts to implement precise location data and rapid notification capabilities.
A survey included in the findings showed that 94% of school staff reported feeling safer when equipped with a wearable panic button.