In recognition of America’s Safe Schools Week, Oct. 19-25, SchoolDude, a provider of operations management solutions, launched a new third-party K-12 and higher education research study, “Safety & Crisis Planning in Today’s Schools: Overcoming the Hurdles.”
According to the survey, nearly 50% of school administrators indicated mobile access is a top three priority for updating emergency response plans. This includes preparation for potential emergencies, e.g., fire, natural disaster, disease, accidents, threats or violent aggressive action.
“With SchoolDude’s CrisisManager, it is our mission to help keep schools secure, providing safety procedures within arm’s reach via individuals’ mobile devices,” said Lee Prevost, president of SchoolDude. “Developing and maintaining a crisis management plan should never fall by the wayside. Our research shows that administrators must reassess the efficiency of their current crisis response plans to make sure all safety needs are met.”
The school officials surveyed said most safety plans are paper-based, residing in binders (79%) or maps/posters (74%). Only 22% of school officials are using emergency text notifications via mobile devices.
Additional SchoolDude research shows:
•64% of school officials say improved team efficiency is the most important advantage of a mobile application for emergency notifications.
•45% cite better communication as a key advantage.
•58% of schools report using an email notification system to communicate with staff and faculty during an emergency, and 33 % used email to communicate with parents and others externally.
•42% of schools have an emergency plan based on self-imposed, rather than mandated, compliance requirements.
