Safety First:
Smart Communications Choices For School Security
It is true that schools
can never be fully prepared for a disaster, but there are smart communication
choices that they can make that will at least have them prepared to
communicate in case of a disaster. Schools are responsible for maintaining
communication with the outside community when it happens during hours
students are on campus. The process of contacting each parent or guardian
of a school or to take all the calls from concerned parents in is
beyond the resources of a school.
There are technologies
that can be used in place of the phone tree that are infinitely more
effective and timely, which is essential in times of emergency. The
recent fires in San Diego highlighted this point. Fires moved so quickly
that there was little time for residents to react. Fortunately the
fires did not begin on a day when students were in class. If they
did threaten a school during the day, an immediate response would
have been needed. Either SBC's Crisis Management Alert System (CAMS)
or Intellicast services could have easily and quickly alerted
all parents or guardians in a school of important information as to
the status of the fire and any evacuation plans for their children.
This could happen in a matter of minutes. Both products specialize
in fast and wide notification to a preselected audience and have the
ability to dial out in mass to a database that can spread a uniform
message to all parents. CAMS can target multiple sources like email
and phones, while Intellicast can geographically target the most immediate
numbers to contact first and work out from there.
It is equally important
that internal communications can also occur during a crisis as well.
Wireless phones and audio conferencing solutions can tie all important
parties in a school district together to receive and give out uniform
information. In the case of an earthquake or a fire it is best to
stay out of school buildings where the wired phone lines are. By setting
up wireless phones with each campus and also having an audioconferencing
services in place, districts can have another important communication
component in place.
Schools should also have
a database of parent email and phone numbers in place. Using distributed
group email list can easily communicate in all times, whether in crisis
or not. Parents can easily be informed of a special school event or
a school closure because of adverse weather conditions. A school web
site can also be an effective way to communicate if it is being updated
regularly. When San Diego County schools shut down for the week of
the fires in October, getting information about which schools were
opened and closed was difficult for parents. If all districts would
had an email distribution list or even updated information on the
district web site, many parents would not have had to jam school phone
lines to find out if school was on or off that morning.
For these and other solutions
for school safety and security please contact your SBC account manager
to discuss options for ensuring t that you are prepared to communicate
in case of any accident or disaster.
SBC Products and Services
For School Crisis Management
