4 minute read
Make your school EPP-ready
Making your schools ePP-ready
Left: Schools using networked FrontRow classroom soundfield systems have the added benefit that the teacher microphone becomes a ‘smart’ microphone to allow two-way communication with the office, or let the office know of a problem in their classroom without the need to locate a phone or help button. Right: Admin staff should be able to quickly activate any type of emergency scenario, whether it’s to notify children and staff on the playground of a weather emergency, or effectively advise the school of a lockdown situation.
Many schools use networked systems daily for paging, intercom, and bells. But only in the last several years have they recruited networked technology to support crisis situations where clear communication and speed are critical. As part of an effective emergency preparedness plan (EPP), schools need to support their life-safety systems with communication technologies that help keep staff and students
A safer, more efficient school or hidden fees notifications and much more aware, informed, focused, and out of harm’s way. And to do that, the communication platform must provide three basic functions:
1. Activation: Multiple ways for staff to activate an alert
2. Notification: Redundant ways to inform responders
3. Response: A suite of effective, automated actions
Activation
A strong communication system gives teachers and other staff members multiple ways to tell the rest of the school there’s a problem. Ideally, teachers should be able to send an alert from a combination of: their microphone, a call button, a wall control panel, an under-desk panic button, or a virtual button on a computer or mobile device.
Create a single communications grid for paging, bells, intercom and emergency alerts over your LAN with FrontRow.
• Flexible & Expandable - totally customizable with no ongoing
• Self-sufficient - use the intuitive interface to manage communications without the need for outside consultants and techs
• One system for emergency response - one-click can activate emergency alerts, trigger digital signage, lock doors, send e-mail These options must also be easy to find
• Eliminate redundancy - no need for separate wiring, amplifiers, speakers, bell tones, intercom phones, support contracts
1-800-340-9894 ex. 5373 www.gofrontrow.com
in a stressful situation, and the mic signal must be strong enough to get around most obstructions from furniture or people.
Admin staff should be able to quickly activate any type of emergency scenario, whether it’s to notify children and staff on the playground of a weather emergency, or effectively advise the school of a lock-down situation. And each scenario should be automated with its own pre-recorded message, tone, or trigger events such as initiating strobe lights or door locks.
Notification
Just as crucial is ensuring that the school and response team are effectively notified. Automated emergency announcements that override other local audio plus visual cues through digital signage or strobe lights are important to ensure that students and staff are informed regardless of where they are in the school. Also important is to ensure the alert has many ways to reach a group of people who can render help. The primary delivery point will likely be the front office, but other members of a response team either on or off campus should be informed too (e.g., superintendent’s office, campus security, facilities, etc).
Response
Possibly the most important factor in designing EPP-ready communication technology is giving schools the power to respond to an emergency at hand. Automation of emergency communication within and outside the school, along with the ability to trigger actions such as locking the doors, ensure that staff can effectively respond in a stressful situation.
Immediate action paired with clear and concise communication can make all the difference in an emergency.
EPP-ready with FrontRow Conductor
Many schools across Canada have moved to the FrontRow Conductor platform to cover all their school communication needs. Conductor was designed specifically for the K-12 environment and not only gives schools easy control of their paging, bell schedules, and communication zones, but also ties in the school emergency communication and control platform. Staff can pre-record any number of emergency alerts and decide how those alerts should be activated. When an alert is activated, Conductor can also trigger door locks, visual communication, and even email notification to response teams outside the school.
Schools using networked FrontRow classroom soundfield systems have the added benefit that the teacher microphone becomes a ‘smart’ microphone to allow two-way communication with the office, or let the office know of a problem in their classroom without the need to locate a phone or help button.
“FrontRow Conductor has been instrumental in raising the standards of our school emergency preparedness,” says Paul Taylor, IT analyst from Luther College High School in Regina.
Getting your communication technology EPP-ready takes planning, but is well within the reach of school personnel. For a free guide to building strong school communication infrastructure, ask for a copy of the Conductor Deployment Guidelines at gofrontrow.com, or for more information call 800.340.9894. n
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