UVA student developing app to better report emergencies at school

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - A University of Virginia student is hoping an app he is creating will help keep students and teachers safe.

Alexander Halpern wants Safeline to prevent gun violence at schools.

“It serves as an anonymous line of communication between high school students and school administration and security,” Halpern said.

He says the idea came to him when he was younger: “Throughout middle school and high school, we had always had lockdown drills kind of in preparation for a potential active shooter situation. And that’s what kind of made me start to first think about the idea of gun violence in schools,” Halpern said.

He wanted to help student report life-threatening scenarios on school grounds.

“Over the years, I started thinking about what resources students might want to have in the event of an active shooter situation, as well as how students could play a role in stopping other incidents that might occur at schools,” Halpern said.

So, he came up with Safeline. The app provides students with a map of their school, allowing them to pin the exact location of an incident.

“When they want to report an incident they have a bunch of different options for reporting things such as vandalism, mental distress, fighting, and then in the worst-case scenario, an active shooter,” Halpern said.

The information is then sent directly to administrators and security.

“I think it’s really important for schools to be able to respond immediately to the different safety concerns and wellbeing concerns that students have when they’re at school or during the school day,” Halpern said.

He plans to launch a pilot program for the app later this year at a private school in Virginia, and a public school in Connecticut.

Learn more about Safeline here.

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