A Guide to Selecting the Ideal Emergency Notification System for Schools

This article overviews the critical considerations when selecting an emergency notification system, including features, pricing, and customer support.

Fremont, CA: Having an emergency notification system at schools is crucial to keeping the learning environment secure. Participants in a Campus Safety study identified campus-wide notifications as the most critical system for enhancing school safety, ahead of physical security and off-premise notification systems like text messaging, which came in second.

Schools must have an emergency notification system in place to maintain the safety of the learning environment. According to survey participants on campus safety, campus-wide notifications surpassed off-premise notification systems like text messaging and physical security as the most crucial strategy for improving school safety.

Essential Considerations for Choosing an Emergency Notification System for Schools

When an emergency or occurrence occurs, a school emergency notification system should be able to respond quickly and efficiently. The following elements are crucial to ensuring an emergency notification system satisfies the school district's requirements. Some of the key considerations include:

Immediately Available:

It can save lives by distributing an emergency alert in seconds instead of minutes. When an emergency occurs, an emergency notification system must respond immediately.

Highly Visible:

It should be challenging to overlook or dismiss an emergency notification system. Everywhere on the school campus, even corners should be able to see or hear the alert: teachers, staff, and guests. Every major part of the school and its buildings, including the parking lots, gymnasium, auditorium, and outdoor spaces, should have access to the notifications.

User-Friendly:

The school alert system should be simple to use and provide information in an understandable manner for authorized personnel only. Panic buttons and one-touch badges can be combined with the appropriate alert system. Local authorities can also send notifications to specific scenarios. Using the emergency notification system must be possible from anywhere and not require a person to travel to a particular area, such as a public address room.

These are essential considerations for choosing an emergency notification system for schools. A digital signage solution can assist you in whether you plan to upgrade the emergency notification system in your school district or replace it with a better one. Any display linked to the school network, such as interactive flat panels and projectors, messages from an authorized person in an emergency regarding a room, building, or campus if the proper digital signage platform is in place.

In particular, if people already interact with the displays during the school day, digital signage provides an obvious option with music, video, and graphics. Collections can be placed outside the field or parking lot to inform people and within the school.