Bloomfield Hills High Boasts New Safety System
(Bloomfield Hills Schools Press Release, Aug. 30, 2015)
The new Bloomfield Hills High School campus will open to students on September 8, 2015, and will boast a new learning environment that is reflective of the best college and work spaces in the country.  Students will notice flexible instruction areas and furniture, new interactive technology, and even a distributed lunch experience.  What they may not notice right away are the new safety features, working quietly in the background to keep students, staff, and visitors safe.
Bloomfield Hills Schools was one of the first districts in Michigan to install the Boot (door) safety device and now, Bloomfield Hills Schools is pleased to be the first in Michigan to install the BluePoint Alert system.
“Safety is our number one priority,” said Dr. Rob Glass, Superintendent. “Designing a new school building was a wonderful opportunity to explore new safety systems and we are pleased to be able to use the BluePoint system in our district,” he added.
This high tech system works much like a fire alarm system, with multiple pull stations throughout the building.  At the first sign of an emergency, any individual within the building can activate the system, alerting all occupants of the danger and initiating building protocols.  At the same time, the system alerts law enforcement, expediting a rapid response and ultimately saving lives.
The BluePoint system will make the campus especially safer for students and staff with disabilities.  In an emergency situation, individuals with hearing and visual disabilities find it particularly difficult to receive notification quickly and easily.  The BluePoint strobe lights and audio system will quickly alert these individuals, while also cutting through ambient noise in larger building zones (gym, auditorium, hallway, etc.).
Information from the BluePoint website: http://www.bluepointalert.com/
What it does:

• Acts as a deterrent similar to a security system
• Automatically contacts police with minimal human action
• Automatically communicates a threat situation throughout the building and to key people
• Lets the intruder know Police are on their way
• Provides Police and key people initial location of threat information

Why it’s needed:

• Incidents do occur
• Panicked people don’t react rationally or think clearly through even simple operations
• The faster the first responders are on site, the faster the emergency situation ends
• The faster the facility initiates its emergency protocols, the faster the occupants are safe

Learn more about Bloomfield Hills High at http://www.bloomfield.org/schools/bloomfield-hills-high-school.