If there is an emergency at your child’s school, how do you know they will be alerted anywhere on campus and given the instructions that will keep them safe? Obviously, some schools are safer than others, and choosing where your child goes to school is a big decision. If you live somewhere with a school that has a bad reputation for safety, you may want to think about moving somewhere that has a better reputation, whether that’s to the next town over or to another country. The UK, for example, has a strong reputation for school safety, with guns being illegal and school shootings almost non-existent. As a parent, you may want to check out the primary school league tables on schoolguide.co.uk for primary schools in the UK if you are thinking about moving abroad, but before you do that, here are 5 questions to ask your school’s administrators:
- How do you notify students and staff in case of emergency? How long does it take to dispatch that alert?
- Do you have an emergency mass notification system in place that will immediately alert my child if he/she is on the playground?
- How do the alerts differ depending on the type of emergency?
- How do you alert and instruct students in the absence of a teacher or adult?
- How do you alert students who have disabilities?
There is nothing more important than the safety of your child, and your school’s emergency response plan and system should alert all students and be ready for a number of emergency situations, including Intruder on Campus, Lockdown, Utility Failure, Fire, Weather Emergency or Active Shooter.
When seconds count, you need to know that your child is in good hands. ACTIVATE: One Touch Emergency Notification System is a powerful, yet easy-to-use system that integrates a variety of multi-modal technologies into one centralized point of activation.
Contact us to learn more about how schools should be keeping your kids safe.