Emergency response is an important topic in the K-12 community. In the midst of a crisis, school leaders need to know how to act quickly and how to keep staff and students safe. According to a recent survey by SchoolDude, provider of Crisis Manager, a mobile safety platform, 40 percent of school leaders reported they felt unprepared to handle a crisis on campus. 

The news is full of stories about various threats that schools face, including weather emergencies, bomb threats, an active shooter scenario, etc. Because these events do happen, even rarely, it’s important to have a plan of action and technology in place that can help school leaders make smart decisions and stay in touch with K-12 community.

SchoolDude has released these four best practices for creating safe school environments.

1)  Make safety plans available on smartphones: Move emergency plans and procedures from paper-based materials to mobile devices so individuals can access protocols and actionable steps immediately during a crisis.

2)  Empower faculty and staff with training: Provide proper training to give individuals the know-how to properly handle emergency scenarios.

3)  Customize mobile-enabled safety plans based on roles/responsibilities: Set up permissions to make sure only the right people are able to see plans on mobile devices, tailoring procedures to appropriate audiences, e.g., first responders, students, parents, staff.

4)  Communicate mobile plans: Make sure that constituents are aware of the resources available to them so they can access mobile-enabled safety plans, receive text alerts and push notifications.