RADFORD – When students return to school Monday at Radford City Schools, a new tool will be at their fingertips with the goal to make their school environment safer.
Radford City School District has enrolled with STOPit, a technology platform for schools that “deters and controls harmful or inappropriate conduct,” according to information released by the school system.
“STOPit empowers students with an easy app to safely and anonymously report anything of concern to school officials – from cyberbullying to threats of violence or self-harm. STOPit empowers students to stand up for themselves and others while giving our schools the insight we need to keep students safe.” STOPit enables students to submit anonymous reports to their school containing text, photos, or video.
“Administrators are then able to manage incidents in a backend management system called STOPit Admin,” according to Radford City Schools. “STOPit Admin provides efficient and powerful investigative tools to our staff, including the ability to message with the reporter, which will allow us to address issues instantly.”
Superintendent Rob Graham said Thursday, he hopes the new tool will make his schools an even safer place than he feels they are now.
“We are trying to do everything we can in Radford City Public Schools to create the safest environment possible for our entire school community and we feel the STOPit app can help us with this goal,” he said. “We have been educating students and staff before winter break and plan to launch the app when students return from break on Monday.”
According to the STOPit company, STOPit provides “software and services that mitigate, deter and control inappropriate conduct and is available to schools, universities, workplaces and governments around the world.
“Anonymous and configurable reporting is available by mobile app, web app and phone tip line empowering individuals to protect themselves and stand up for others as well as reporting safety and crime issues,” according to the company website. “STOPit provides valuable services to administrators including monitoring their incidents, content about issues and resolutions, training and promotion services, and investigation tools to help get in front of issues and manage risks.”
More information can be found at www.rcps.org.
