How safe do your students and staff feel at school? As National Safe Schools Week approaches, it’s a natural time to reflect on your school’s safety measures. Traditional drills have their place, but they’re not enough on their own. Schools need a proactive approach that encompasses education, prevention, early detection, swift response, and post-event communication.
By incorporating the right strategies and tools, IT and safety teams can prepare their community members and address many risks before they escalate, creating a safer environment every day, not just during emergencies.
Relying on the same types of drills year after year won’t solve the safety challenges schools face today. Fire drills and lockdowns are helpful, but they are not enough to prepare staff and students for a wide range of potential emergencies.
Here’s why a proactive, tech-enabled approach to safety is critical:
With the help of technology, schools can move from being reactive to being prepared. By combining prevention, early intervention, and rapid communication, schools can reduce risks and respond more effectively to any situation.
Building a proactive safety culture isn’t just about buying new tools. It’s about integrating technology in meaningful ways to create a multi-layered safety system that works in both daily routines and during emergencies. Here are the key elements that can support IT and safety leaders in making this shift.
A proactive safety culture starts with making sure everyone—students, staff, and even parents—knows the drill, literally. Ongoing education around emergency protocols doesn’t just reduce anxiety; it builds confidence. When the entire school community understands the “why” behind drills and safety plans, they’re more prepared to act quickly and effectively. Safety is a shared responsibility, and keeping everyone informed empowers them to play their part. By making safety education part of everyday routines, schools create a more prepared, resilient community—ready to respond.
Staying aware of potential risks is a critical part of a school’s safety efforts. Schools can integrate systems like security cameras and incident reporting platforms into a central dashboard, allowing safety teams to monitor activities across campus as they unfold. This ensures swift identification and response to incidents, helping to maintain a secure environment.
When emergencies occur, clear, actionable communication, broadly disseminated via a variety of methods, can be the difference between order and confusion. Vivi’s Emergency Alerts feature enables visual alerts to be shared on every Vivi-connected display in classrooms or common areas. Vivi alerts take over whatever content is being shared and can even power on displays that are sleeping. In an evacuation or emergency, the appropriate alert can be seen in every classroom in seconds, maximizing the reach of the notification. Alerts remain visible until the emergency is over.
Vivi’s API integration with a school’s existing emergency management systems further enhances this by triggering automated alerts across all screens. This ensures that key messages are seen by all, helping to manage emergencies efficiently and keep everyone safe. When every second counts, having a reliable, far-reaching communication system like Vivi makes a significant difference in response effectiveness.
While technology plays a crucial role, a proactive school safety culture ultimately hinges on building strong relationships and fostering trust between students, staff, and families. Schools can implement regular classroom discussions or assemblies dedicated to safety topics, encouraging students to openly share concerns or anxieties without fear of judgment. Training staff to be approachable listeners and creating confidential reporting systems for bullying, harassment, or potential threats can further cultivate a climate of trust. This open dialogue empowers the entire school community to act as proactive partners in ensuring a safe and supportive learning environment for everyone.
Technology can do more than just help schools respond to emergencies—it helps prevent them from happening. By integrating technology into daily operations, schools can create an interconnected safety system that works every day, not just in times of crisis.
When safety systems are integrated, schools can stay on top of potential risks more easily and respond more effectively when issues arise. This integrated approach to safety can transform the way schools manage everything from daily security to major emergencies.
Lesley Coe, Chief Technology Officer of Cardinal Gibbons High School, worked on the implementation of both Vivi and Raptor Technologies. When asked why this was a priority, she shared: “Any time a school can streamline communication and make the environment safer with the push of a button, it’s worth doing.” Read their story here.
With National Safe Schools Week approaching, it’s a good time to evaluate whether your school’s safety systems are prepared to handle both physical and digital threats.
Join our upcoming webinar, Modern School Safety: Expert Advice on Funding, Tech & More, on October 16th, where industry leaders will share actionable insights on improving school safety through technology and funding strategies. Our expert panel includes:
Learn from these experts and take the next steps in making schools safer every day.
