A Community Focused on School Safety
Placing school safety as a top priority is essential to creating the safest environment that you can for students, and it extends beyond the hours that students spend sitting in classrooms. As John Baker states,”A school is more than a building. It is a community, and communities function around the clock.” Crises can happen anywhere at any time within a community, and when students are involved you are expected to respond accordingly. This means that you need to be able to access your emergency resources which is why John sees his districts use of Emergency Management software as a beneficial tool.
The responsibility of creating a safe environment within the schools extends past the administrators and to the teachers and students as well. John states,”The key to dealing with emergencies is being aware of everything around you. People, especially children, need to learn situational awareness. Often, students’ attention is pulled elsewhere instead of their immediate surroundings. This can lead to an embarrassing moment like bumping into a street sign or a lamp post. It can also result in being hit by a car, or not realizing that a violent intruder is in the immediate vicinity. Situational awareness training teaches kids to notice the world around them and to be alert.” The adults in the school then have the responsibility of using their preparation to keep things under control and remain calm.
24/7 Safety
By putting a platform at teachers’ fingertips that allows them to plan for potential situations and map out responses, teachers are empowered through the software and app to have the confidence to respond to situations calmly and remain in control.
As John Baker States,”Getting everybody on the same page helps save lives.” By making information available 24/7 for teachers and administrators to respond appropriately to any situation that may arise, schools are not only ensuring that emergencies are handled in a more confident manner but, more importantly, that lives can be saved as a result of it.
