Marietta has become the first school district in Oklahoma to install a new survival technology called Go to Green, designed to help students and staff react quickly to an active shooter. To show how it works, News 9 attended a demonstration at Marietta High School in which live rounds were fired inside the school hallways, a sound the reporter noted no one ever wants to hear inside a place of learning.
The technology is built around a simple idea. It responds directly to the sound of gunfire, and once it detects shots it automatically activates a color system based on colors that people already recognise from everyday life. That instant reaction is meant to remove any delay between the moment shooting starts and the moment a building begins guiding people to safety.
When the system is triggered, red and blue lights switch on inside the classrooms, while an accompanying app sends alerts straight to school staff, the school resource officer and local police. The goal is to make sure that everyone who needs to know about a threat is warned at the same time, both inside the rooms where students shelter and among the officers who respond.
Alongside the alerts, LED lights are used to indicate safe pathways and exits throughout the building. Green means go and red means no, a choice the report described as deliberately straightforward so that even young children can understand at a glance which direction is safe. The simplicity is presented as one of the system's main strengths in a high-stress emergency.
During the exercise, Marietta police were on hand to ensure everyone's safety as the live rounds were fired. Officers also demonstrated that the technology is sensitive enough to be set off even by a gun fitted with a suppressor, showing that the system is intended to catch shots that might otherwise be muffled and harder for people nearby to recognise.
The man behind the technology, Ernie Williams, explained that he deliberately created Go to Green without sirens or alarm sounds in order to prevent added confusion during an emergency. He framed his work in personal terms, saying that schools are entrusted with people's most prized possessions and that it is his job to help keep them safe and secure when the worst happens.
For local educators, the demonstration came against a tense backdrop. The superintendent said he is considering adding more security at his schools after the recent shooting at Pauls Valley High School, adding that there is not a superintendent in the state who does not wake up every morning fearing something similar. With Marietta now the first district in Oklahoma to install the system, another live demonstration is scheduled for June 17 at Marietta High School for state lawmakers and superintendents to see it for themselves.