No Skimping on Student Safety: How GoGuardian Beacon Helped Save a Life at an Arizona Elementary School

When Justin Price walked back into Elfrida Elementary School after 25 years away, he found himself sitting in a very familiar room.

“I’m actually sitting in my old principal’s office,” he said with a laugh. “Not much has changed at this school.”

While the building may have looked the same as when he attended as a student, the world around it had evolved drastically, and with it, the needs of its students.

Elfrida Elementary is a small K-8 school in rural Arizona, with around 125 students. Price returned to take over as principal after decades away from the community. His journey back wasn’t a straight line through education. In fact, it was never part of the original plan.

After serving 12 years in the Arizona Army National Guard, including two tours in Iraq, Price found himself transitioning into civilian life after an injury. It wasn’t long before a substitute teaching job led to a full-time teaching opportunity, and eventually, administration.

But it was during his current role that he witnessed the power of having a solution like GoGuardian Beacon. This digital safety tool helps schools identify and respond to students who may be at risk of suicide, self-harm, or threats and violence towards others, which could change the lives of those under his care.

Life-saving alert

As someone with technology experience, it made sense for Price to be the one to initially keep watch over the alerts being generated by GoGuardian Beacon.

“I had all the alerts going straight to my phone, 24/7. That had been going on for a couple of months,” he recalled.

That dedication would prove critical one night when an alert came through with a disturbing search query.

“It was something along the lines of: ‘How many Tylenol do I need to take to not wake up in the morning?’ And I thought, ‘Whoa, that’s specific, that’s real-time, and that’s dangerous.’”

Realizing the urgency, Price sprang into action.

“I went over to my home office, logged in, and pulled up the alert. I jumped into our student information system, looked up the parents’ phone numbers, pulled out my cell phone, and immediately called them. I said, ‘Hey, where’s Johnny*? You need to find him right now and make sure he’s okay.’”

Thankfully, the student’s parents found their child before they could take their own life. Price was shaken, but also profoundly grateful.

“Even if that was the one and only time GoGuardian Beacon ever worked, it was worth it. The whole thing. Any cost. It’s worth every penny.”

Tech with a purpose

That experience shaped how Price now views student safety and the responsibility that comes with tools like GoGuardian Beacon.

“If you're going to purchase GoGuardian Beacon, someone has to pay attention to the alerts being received. There needs to be a person watching at two or three in the morning. Because you never know when a student is going to decide to make an attempt on their life.”

For Price, it’s not about acting like Big Brother. Presence and intervention in moments that matter most are what solutions like GoGuardian Beacon help facilitate.

GoGuardian Beacon stands above the rest

"I tried Bark for two years and honestly wasn’t impressed," Price said. "I don’t think I got a single alert. People say, ‘Well, it's free,’ and I'm like, ‘Yeah, but it doesn't do anything.’ It’s like receiving a car with no engine."

GoGuardian Beacon, by contrast, delivered results instantly.

“When I started using GoGuardian Beacon for the first time, I was impressed within 24 hours. And it’s only gotten better over time. [GoGuardian’s] AI keeps improving it.”

The system learns and adapts, even distinguishing between genuine threats and harmless content over time.

“There’s a band out there called Suicidal Tendencies... Eventually, [GoGuardian Beacon] understands, ‘Oh, this is just music.’ But if the next kid is googling instructions to harm themselves, I'm going to get an alert about that.”

Safe in more ways than one

While GoGuardian Beacon plays a critical role in identifying self-harm risks and other concerning behaviors, Price also leans heavily on GoGuardian Admin and Teacher to keep students engaged.

“It keeps students focused and on task in the classroom, and prevents them from going down some weird YouTube rabbit hole when they think I can’t see their screen.”

He’s seen how classroom dynamics shift when students know they can’t goof off.

“Once kids realize Mr. Price can sit in his office, send them a message, close out a tab, and still keep them on task even if he’s not in the room, they stay pretty engaged.”

He doesn’t do this to be mean or overstep boundaries. It’s this level of visibility and discreet support that reaps benefits for learners - even if it might frustrate them at the time.

“It means more academic work gets done. That leads to higher test scores, and that’s what we all want. That’s what caregivers want, too.”

He also praised how GoGuardian Teacher helps educators offer personalized support.

“You can message a student and say, ‘Hey, it looks like you're struggling with this,’ without anyone else knowing. You’re helping them discreetly. The other students don’t have to know.”

Bringing tech to a rural school

On top of keeping students safe, leading the charge to modernize a rural school can be challenging. Thankfully, Price was able to secure some grants last spring, which enabled him to purchase 80 new Chromebooks for his learners.

But those devices didn’t go into students’ hands without one key requirement.

“I knew I wasn’t going to hand out Chromebooks to junior high students without the GoGuardian suite installed. It’s like handing over car keys before teaching them how to drive. You just don’t do it.”

As a school administrator, Price feels a duty to not just his students, but their caregivers as well. 

“We owe it to our students to make things as safe as possible. We owe it to their guardians to show we’re not just caring for kids during school hours. If we send a device home, families need to trust it's secure.”

For any admin on the fence

Asked what he would say to a school administrator unsure about purchasing an edtech safety tool like GoGuardian Beacon, Price didn’t hesitate.

“Do it. Get it. Cut your copy paper budget. Cut markers. Cut something. Because this is going to save students' lives.”

As his school continues to grow its technology program, the GoGuardian suite remains a central part of how Elfrida Elementary balances innovation and responsibility.

“Handing a Chromebook to a student is like handing them the keys to the internet. As a school, we have to take responsibility for that. My mindset used to be: ‘What they do at home or on the weekend is their parents’ problem.’”

Today, he sees his role — and his school’s role — differently.

“Now, I’ve realized that with GoGuardian, I can step in and help in ways that matter...Especially in cases where parents might overlook something, intentionally or not.”

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Want to see how GoGuardian Beacon works in action for yourself? Request a demo today.