NC IDEA SEED Grant Recipient, Active Defender, Modernizes School Safety Infrastructure
“Every second counts in a school emergency. We built Active Defender to give those seconds back to teachers — the people standing between danger and our kids.”
PINEHURST, NC, June 13, 2025 /24-7PressRelease/ — Active Defender, an industry leader in school safety solutions and emergency communications, will showcase the platform’s newest security tool on June 16 at Sandhills Classical Christian School in Pinehurst for their School Leadership Safety Summit. The host school will become the first in the region to integrate Active Defender’s wearable panic buttons with instant connections to emergency response systems, developed by local startup founder Jim Boyte, a retired Department of Defense software engineer.
Built to empower educators and school staff to act instantly in the face of threats, Active Defender connects classrooms and campus leaders in seconds, providing mission-critical communication with a single touch. The event will feature a live demonstration of the system in action, with interviews available from the founder, teachers, and school administrators.
“Every second counts in a school emergency,” said Boyte Active Defender Founder and CEO. “We built Active Defender to give those seconds back to teachers — the people standing between danger and our kids. This technology was born in North Carolina, and we’re proud to see it start here in Moore County.”
Active Defender was recently awarded an NC IDEA SEED Grant, recognizing its innovative approach to school safety and potential to scale across the state. The platform is currently in use in multiple North and South Carolina schools and is expanding across the Southeast.
The conference on June 16th will be attended by school leaders who seek to keep their campuses safe during emergencies. Keynote speakers Rob DePriest and Bobby Brasher will cover a wide range of topics relevant to today’s schools, demonstrating how Active Defender equips leadership to provide safer classrooms, faster real-time communication, and improved response times for teachers and families. The event will be open to the media.
About Active Defender
Active Defender ensures that no person is ever left in the dark when they hear an emergency alarm. For 50+ years teachers continue to participate in fire drills, and other emergency drills, while never knowing the location of any actual danger. Designed by former military personnel, security specialists, and brilliant software engineers, Active Defender connects school personnel in real time when facing a crisis. We make sure everyone gets the right information to make the right response. Learn more at https://active-defender.com/.
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