Returning from summer break, many Berkeley High School students noted unusual alarms installed in classrooms and hallways around the school. Set in blue boxes and covered by a layer of glass to reduce false activations, the new installations across Berkeley Unified School District are designed to promote a safe and secure school environment.
In response to an increase in school shootings, schools across the country have incorporated lockdown protocol and drills to handle an active shooter. A 2025 study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that the number of students exposed to school shootings has nearly tripled in the last 20 years. The new alarm system installed around BHS aims to improve the process of initiating emergency procedures.
BHS Universal Ninth Grade (U9) English teacher Julie Panebianco emphasized the need for safety procedures in schools and the impact these new alarms will have.
“There have been some other like situations over the years that have made the adults on campus feel like we needed a better system to (quickly) alert each other when there is an emergency on campus … So I feel really appreciative that (the district) heard us and they did this,” Panebianco said.
To activate the new alarm system, individuals use the blue hammer mounted on the wall next to the alarm box to break the protective glass. Inside the alarm box, there are buttons to initiate school-wide lockdown protocol or report medical emergencies and security emergencies.
Assistant Superintendent John Calise, overseeing the installation of the alert system, explained their intention:“It’s (about) having the ability to call for whatever you need, front office support … if the educator needs medical support in the classroom, or if there is a reason to lock down the school,” he said, “The project is 100 percent about BUSD’s commitment to student and staff safety.”
Calise also emphasized the importance of only triggering the alarms in appropriate situations.“I think the biggest takeaway for the Berkeley High community is … the seriousness at which these alarms must be treated, and how unsafe it is to actually trigger false alarms,” he noted, “They don’t get pulled unless there is a real emergency situation. Triggering those alarms not only is unlawful and illegal, but it puts (all students and staff) in danger.”
Faculty and students have yet to receive instruction about the new Real-Time alert alarms, mounted around the school weeks ago.
Without official guidance, some students are unsure how to treat the new devices. “I don’t know much about (the new alarms). I have noticed them in classrooms and in the hallways, but no one has told me what they’re for or what we’re supposed to do with them,” Noa Neufeld, a BHS sophomore, noted.
Neufeld and others have also noticed stickers reading “non-operational” currently cover the majority of the Real-Time alert boxes. Calise clarified that although the alarms were mounted around campus, they are only scheduled to go live in the district on Jan. 1, 2027, meaning they are currently not functioning.
“This is a district-wide system that we’re still having installed across the district, and it’s not one thing …There’s a lot of infrastructure and backbone to support (the alarm boxes),” Calise said.
According to Calise, before the alarms go live at the start of the next calendar year, students will receive communication and guidance on when and how to use the alerts. Additionally, staff across the district are waiting to be trained on how to use and respond to the Real-Time alert.
“I feel frustrated by not knowing what this thing is on my wall, or how to use it, or what it’s for,” Panebianco said, “The things appeared overnight, and there’s been nothing.” She even described stopping mid-sentence the first time she noticed the alarms while teaching a class.
In the coming months leading up to the rollout of the new Real-Time alert system, students and staff can expect communication from BUSD administrators about the alarms and the impact they will have on improving school safety. While the non-operational stickers remain for now, Jan. 1, 2027, will mark a major shift that will turn unfamiliar wall fixtures into functioning tools for safety across the entire district.