POTTSVILLE, Pa. -- An app to promote safety in schools and fight bullying is being used in the Pottsville Area School district.
Even with the increase in technology, textbooks still remain relevant in classrooms across the country, but in this information age, so, too, are iPads. At Pottsville Area High School, these tablets have many purposes.
"I think it will help definitely stop bullying and help more people come forward," said senior Logan Maurer.
Those tablets now provide the ability for students to report bullying, either on the record or anonymously.
This is all made possible with the "Safe2SpeakUP" app, a mobile application that promotes safety in schools.
"They don't have to feel intimidated by coming here and feeling like someone will see them coming here. It's very efficient. It comes to us right away. We actually get an alert, and it just shows up like a notification for social media or email," explained Pottsville High School Principal Tiffany Hummel.
Every student at the high school has an iPad. They're able to simply go onto the app and not just report any instances of bullying that they've dealt with firsthand, but any bullying they've seen around school.
"Press 'report bullying.' You can type what happened, when it happened, name of the victim, person who was bullying, the name of the witnesses and describe what happened a little bit more," explained senior John Hannaway.
"I think that's really good because it helps people get involved to help stop bullying," said sophomore James Bell.
Any time a report is issued, a record is kept so the district can keep a tally of repeat offenders or alarming trends.