Olathe (Kan.) district's security system will enable employees to lock down buildings with the push of a button

Employees in the Olathe (Kan.) district will be issued badges that can trigger a building lockdown and notify police in case of a security threat.

The move to bolster security comes five months after a shooting at Olathe East High School that wounded an assistant principal and a resource officer. 

The security system will provide all staff members a badge to wear on their lanyard. If employees see a threat, they can put the entire building on lockdown with eight pushes of their badge. Once the building goes into lockdown, all screens in the school will display a lockdown alert and police will be summoned. Three pushes send a staff alert to the office. 

The district said the employees can use the badges for fights, medical issues and more serious threats such as school shootings. 

"This is really the first time we're essentially empowering all of our staff members that if they see something of a critical nature or a critical threat, they can notify everybody in the building," said Brent Kiger, executive director of safety services.

Funds for the upgrades come from bond money.