RIO RANCHO, N.M. — Rio Rancho Public Schools is rolling out another tool for the community to report school threats or bullying.

“The STOPit app is for anyone that is in a school community – students, parents, or educators – a space for them to share concerns without the stress of revealing their name or retaliation,” said Kelly Romanovicz, Student Engagement VP with STOPit Solutions.

The district is rolling out the app as an anonymous way for people to send in tips. Users can’t see any other tips coming in, but they can communicate with the school administration in real-time in a text chain.

“We know that schools have gotten better at responding after these things have happened but the STOPit app is really meant to be an early intervention and prevention tool, so we can get to these things and address them earlier, so they don’t turn into something much more serious,” Romanovicz said.

RRPS officials say they are always looking for ways to improve safety and implementing the app just made sense.

“We are confident that the use of this software will increase the number of issues reported in our schools, which will thereby result in an increase in effective resolutions to these issues,” RRPS shared in a statement.

The app also comes with an extra feature – a crisis text line.

“It’s actually the button on the app that does receive the most traffic,” Romanovicz said. “That provides immediately mental health support to anybody who has the app downloaded.”

The STOPit app has a partnership with the New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority, making it 100% free for the district.