Memphis schools open ‘state of the art’ real-time safety center
Alton Elementary School still looks like it once did from the exterior, before it closed its doors in 2022.
The school is surrounded by suburban-like neighborhoods in South Memphis. Streets are wide and the sidewalks still run around the majority of the perimeter of the school.
While the exterior is much the same from when it once operated as a school building, the interior has changed tremendously. Alton Elementary is now home to Memphis-Shelby County Schools Real Time Safety Center, which had its ribbon cutting on Dec. 11, 2025.
The school’s reuse, interim Superintendent Roderick Richmond said, is an example of what reuse of a closed building could be. MSCS is currently considering closing multiple schools around the district in an effort to right size the district.
“This building was a closed school…when we’re talking about repurposing buildings, we’re not talking about leaving blight in the community,” Richmond said. We’re talking about leveraging those facilities for the best purposes that they can serve in the community.”
MSCS leaders said the center, which operates similar to Memphis Police Department’s real-time crime center, has been up and running for about three weeks. But, there was a point in time where the future of the center was “uncertain,” Lakria Elliot, Director of Safety for MSCS said.
“At one point, we were uncertain whether this initiative would become a reality, but because of (community partners, leaders) recognized the urgency, understood the need and honored the investment, both of time and resources, you made this project one of your priorities,” Elliot said.
Carolyn Jackson, interim chief of security, said the building is “state of the art,” and is setting a “new standard,” of safety and security in schools. Jackson said the center operates 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
Housed inside the building is a monitoring center where the hundreds of cameras on MSCS campuses can be tracked by staff members. Dozens of desks with multiple monitors places on them is where staff members can track the camera feeds. Infront of the desks are 18 televisions which also show camera feeds.
Some of the video feeds are from inside school buildings, but others are feeds from trailer cameras that are placed outside vacant school properties around MSCS. These trailer cameras were approved by the school board on Aug. 26 at a cost of $615,000.
Simulation room
Also in the building is a simulation training room, where security and school resource officers can train.
The room, which is roughly the size of a classroom, has large LED screens that depict realistic school threat scenarios. Officer Matthew Ellzey gave a live demonstration of the simulation for members of the media. The LED screen showed an active shooter scenario in which Ellzey had to neutralize the threat via a fake gun that was calibrated to the program.
Ellzey was able to shoot down the fake shooter, and upon completion, the simulation showed where exactly he shot his fake weapon.
The second threat scenario featured and argument between two students. One student pulled out a knife and Ellzey had to neutralize the threat. Despite multiple attempts, and more than a dozen rounds, he was unable to shoot down the threat.
“Well you shot him about 20 times,” Richmond joked, after it was discovered the simulation was not properly calibrated.
Jackson said that while MSCS’s own officers train in the building, federal agencies also use the simulator. Nurses are also trained in CPR and other medical trainings in the building as well.
Tennessee has experienced two school shootings in the last three years that have led to multiple students deaths. In 2023, a gunman opened fire at The Covenant School in Nashville, killing seven including the perpetrator. In 2025, a student at Antioch High School in Nashville also opened fire, killing one student and then themself.
Memphis, despite threats being present around school buildings, and a number of students being shot outside of schools resulting in their death, has only had one shooting that occurred inside of a school building in recent history.
In 2021, a student shot and critically injured another student at Cummings K-8 Optional School. Jackson said the Cummings shooting made administration say “this can’t happen anymore.”
“(Cummings) keeps me up at night, and that’s why we’re here,” Jackson said. “…When something happens here, here’s the thing, our kids are going back to (the school) because they know (it is safe.)”
The total cost of the real time safety center was not revealed to members of the media, but some aspects of the project, like the training simulator, were purchased through grants.