We’ve all heard the phrase,”time is money” – meaning efficiency equals profitability. And, while true, in a school emergency situation, time is also safety.
Like many who are responsible for K-12 school safety, this is something Vince Utterback, director of business at Pickerington Local School District in Ohio, doesn’t take lightly.
One of his primary goals is to make Pickerington’s safety program run as smoothly as possible by increasing efficiency across the board. Roughly two years ago, Vince and his team underwent a process to thoroughly analyze their safety procedures – and the time it took staff to access and execute the district’s safety plans.
As a result, Vince and his team identified a delay in access to the safety binders that outlined the critical measures to take in case of an emergency. The problem wasn’t the information within the binders, but the fact that the binders were stored in specific locations throughout each facility.
Access to Updated Safety Plans
Vince and his team knew they needed to have safety plans available to all staff anywhere and anytime (including substitute teachers or new personnel who likely wouldn’t be familiar with the district’s standard procedures). They also needed to be able to make updates to safety protocols as quickly as possible, and submit information to the state for compliance.
Pickerington Local School District found what they needed in the Emergency Management suite.
Upon implementation, Vince and his team immediately saw efficiency improvements in each of the outlined areas of need – but that wasn’t all.
Finding Additional Uses
With one simple tweak, they further increased the district’s return-on-investment by using the Emergency Management system to enhance efficiency in Pickerington’s custodial program.
And, they are still going. Vince says:”We are continuing to explore new ways to maximize our return on investment, like using the software to digitize our safety checklist. This means door checks, safety shutoff maintenance, and playground safety reviews are done on time and can be reviewed by principals at any time from any device.”
Get all the details on how Pickerington Local School District is using the Emergency Management software to enhance efficiency across the board – without having to add additional cost or software – by checking out Vince’s story on Upshot.