Herndon, VA -- October 3, 2006 -- In the light of three school shootings in the past week, parents and school officials are asking themselves, "Is there any way to ensure our children's safety? To know where they are at all times – especially if there's a school shooting or other emergency?"

If you're looking for an expert with a fresh angle on school safety, look no further than Jill Stelfox, CEO of Herndon, Va.-based Defywire, Inc. As a mother, Jill was haunted by the knowledge that she could track a Fed Ex package more easily than she could locate her children at school in an emergency.

With a background in mobile technology, she began a company dedicated to providing teachers, bus drivers, and school officials with the capacity to monitor kids' whereabouts throughout the school day, and to ferret out intruders in the schools. In addition, the handheld technology gives school officials immediate access to emergency medical information about an ill or injured child, without losing precious minutes locating the information in a distant office.

Even in the absence of a schoolwide catastrophic event, such a device is invaluable when athletes collapse on the practice field or children are left on a school bus at the end of the day.

Called Mobile Guardian Safety Suite, it is now used to protect a quarter-million schoolchildren, including those of Fairfax County, Va.; Spackenkill Union Free School District in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Dinwiddie County Public Schools in Dinwiddie, Va.; and Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Jill Stelfox can provide facts and figures on factors that threaten the safety and well-being of children throughout the nation, and offer tips for making schools safer. Defywire is the underwriter for the PBS series 100 Tips for Child Safety, produced by 3 Roads Communications of Frederick, Md. She is available for print or broadcasting interviews immediately.