CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools superintendent Earnest Winston says a new security system inside dozens of schools is not working.

• CMS added the crisis alert system at the start of the school year
• The district says the system cost more than $1 million
• The system was installed in around 30 schools including all the district's high schools

The point of the crisis alert system is to create an easier system that makes schools safer. The problem, the district says, is having the opposite effect and it has cost the district more than a million dollars.

“At school after school we found that the system didn't perform as promised, and it didn't perform consistently,” CMS superintendent Earnest Winston said.

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CMS added the crisis alert system at the start of the school year. Staff members wear a badge where they can press a button if they see a threat - like a weapon or shooter. That notification is then investigated and can trigger an alert being broadcast around the school.

The system was installed in around 30 schools including all the district's high schools. It was piloted in a few of them and that's when the district learned the system just wasn't doing what it's supposed to do. CMS says it has already spent money on the program and it's giving the company Centegix 30 days to fix it.

“If they don't meet the February 10 deadline, I shared in unequivocal terms that we will have to sever the relationship that we currently have,” the superintendent said.

Spectrum News reached out to Centegix for comment. Here's what the company had to say.

After receiving the initial purchase order from CMS for one school in November 2018, we began to install our CrisisAlert platform in that single test location in early 2019.   An important part of the testing process is to determine appropriate levels of coverage and if district protocols are properly aligned to the platform to ensure functionality.

 In this case, the district protocols needed to be mapped to the platform, and there were certain changes that needed to be made before we could continue with our deployment process. Those changes have since been made, and we started to deploy sites in summer 2019.   

Our CrisisAlert Solution has been installed in each of the 25 CMS schools that were part of the subsequent purchase orders received through April 2019.  The sites are tested rigorously by the district and we work together with them on the final adjustments and configurations that they request.    

Sites have been launched and are currently in a live, pilot mode. The phased deployment will continue as CMS completes the site-specific testing and the user onboarding process, which includes training for district personnel.

We look forward to continuing to work with CMS to achieve our shared goals of increasing safety for students and staff.

It is important to note, the decision was made under the former superintendent, Clayton Wilcox.