How an app is helping keep Iowa students safe this year

IOWA — School districts are gearing up to welcome students back to school, and officials want to make sure their students are safe. One way school districts are doing that is with the Governor’s School Safety Bureau’s Safe + Sound app.

The app is free to download and allows students, teachers, and parents/guardians to submit anonymous tips about suspicious or concerning activity. The tip goes straight to school administrators and law enforcement to be investigated immediately.

“Any threats of violence, because that is what the app is designed for is to prevent school shootings and to prevent students from harming themselves,” Matthew Anderson, bureau chief with the Governor’s School Safety Bureau, said. “So, anytime that there’s certain categories that are checked, I mean it’s gonna create a response in the middle of the night if the tip came in the middle of the night.”

According to the school safety bureau, there were about 300 tips ranging from threats of violence, bullying, self harm, and drug use received last year.

To learn more about the Safe + Sound app just click here .

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