Amarillo schools outfitted with new technology
Over 50 schools in Amarillo are being outfitted with a new evacuation system designed to protect students during emergencies.
Published: Jun. 11, 2025 at 9:32 PM EDT|Updated: 12 hours ago
AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) – Over 50 schools in Amarillo are being outfitted with a new evacuation system designed to protect students during emergencies.
Go To Green is a directional evacuation system that uses sensors and overhead lighting to guide people away from active shooters, weather threats, or other dangers.
Go To Green says at least six Amarillo schools are currently using this technology, and the goal is to provide a predictable pathway to safety.
Different colors for the sensors will go off depending on how close the threat is to the technology.
“During a gunshot, or during a heightened period, our eyes are opened. Every kid plays red light green light, everywhere in the world I’ve been to has red lights and green lights, by the time we’re six years old or six days old, we’ve already seen red light green light. So, it’s already into our head what green means and what red means,” said Ernie Williams, founder of Go To Green.
Flashing blue and red shows the closest location of the threat, while blinking green shows the pathway to safety, and solid red indicates the threat is nearby.
The founder says their goal is to have this directional light technology anywhere and everywhere there is a potential threat.
“The importance of this system is anybody that’s stuck out in the open, we need to get them away from the shooter, and we can do that within about a fraction of a second. It takes about five milliseconds for our system to go off, and even if they’re colorblind, they see a blinking light and they know to go to it,” said Williams.
Amarillo ISD paid for this technology through a bond that had been put aside specifically for safety and security at its schools.
For students and faculty, these lights are able to direct them to safety, but for first responders, they are able to follow the red lights to the threat, and video cameras activate and point toward the direction of the threat.
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