While you sit in class, you hear gunshots go off.

You look around your class and see everyone with a cell phone receive an alert on the incident.

You don’t have a cell phone so you are out of the loop until a classmate lets you know that a gunmen is on campus.

This essentially is what El Camino is hoping happens if the time comes where students must be notified of a dire situation through its emergency text alert system.

The question remains, is it enough?

Santa Monica College (SMC) has had an emergency text alert system in place since 2007 according to Sgt. Jerry Romano of the Santa Monica College Police Department.

On June 7 last year SMC had an gunmen come on campus, leaving six dead including the shooter.

In an effort to make the college even more prepared, Santa Monica has implemented a new alert system.

This system involves Singlewire, a third-party vendor, a company that has installed new Cisco phones in every building. With this new system the police will be able to make public announcements directly through every single phone on campus, or an individual building if needed.

In April of 2011, when EC implemented this text alert system, it was most likely the best thing out in the market, but it’s 2014 and that isn’t the case anymore.

New technology is out there and the college needs to take the necessary steps to insure that all students are protected and not just those with the means.

What does the college do to protect students who don’t have cell phones?

Based on this information there are plenty of better alternatives to the current text alert system that can accommodate all students.

When it comes to student safety the college should be willing to spend a few bucks to insure its students are safe.

It’s time for EC to do what’s best and continue to advance in every way and not just improving the architecture of the campus.