Las Vegas school district providing teachers with panic buttons following violent attack

Juvenile division director says there’s been ‘an increase of violence, lack of empathy, and lack of respect to our adult authority’

The metro Las Vegas, Nevada school district will give teachers Bluetooth-connected panic buttons in an effort to boost security following a number of violent altercations, including an attack on a teacher who was left unconscious in her classroom.

The Clark County School District will also update its security cameras and ask the police to increase their presence on school campuses.

El Dorado High School will be the first institution where the devices will be issued, as a 16-year-old student has been charged with sexual assault and attempted murder following an incident last week.

Teachers, public safety officials, and others have all shared their frustration as the prevalence of violence, such as fights, assaults, and brawls have increased in the school district.

“This cannot wait one more day,” Clark County Education Association President Marie Neisess said. “We must act now.”

The juvenile division director of the county District Attorney’s Office, Brigid Duffy, added that “we have seen not an increase of calls, but an increase of the violence, a lack of empathy, and a lack of respect to our adult authority”.

Clark County is the fifth-largest school district in the US and has more than 300,000 students and 18,000 teachers at about 336 campuses.

Last week, a 16-year-old student allegedly attacked his teacher at Eldorado High School in Las Vegas. Initial reports suggested that the student, identified as Jonathan Eluterio Martinez Garcia, entered the teacher’s room to discuss grades.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Ms Neisess said in response to those reports. “This was a brutal assault. The student came in with the intent to attack this educator, and did so from the word ‘go.’ There is only one victim here, and that is the educator.”

The student allegedly began punching the teacher and then strangled her until she passed out.

KTNV reports that the student fled the classroom following the attack but was later arrested at home.

The 16-year-old student was arrested and charged with attempted murder, sexual assault and battery with intent to commit sexual assault, among other felonies.

Ms Neisess said the school district was going to upgrade their security.

“Without these steps, we will see more and, God forbid, worse things than what happened last week at Eldorado,” she said.

The student is facing a number of charges, including one count of burglary, one count of first-degree kidnapping resulting in substantial bodily harm, two counts of battery by strangulation with an attempt to commit sexual assault, three counts of battery with intent to commit sexual assault, two counts of battery with intent to commit sexual assault resulting in bodily harm, one count of attempted murder (with use of a charging cord for strangling), two counts of attempted murder, one count of attempting murder with the use of a deadly weapon (scissors), one count of sexual assault, and one count of robbery.

The Associated Press contributed to this report