Push Notifications: Protect Students from Severe Weather
Protect Students from Severe Weather
As administrators, teachers and other school staff, it seems like there are hundreds of threats you need to protect your students from. Improving their mental health, preparing them for higher education and protecting them during sporting events are just a few goals for schools around the world. Remembering all the different threats can make your head spin. While mental health is increasingly becoming a focus for school systems, physical health still needs to remain a focus as well. In particular, protecting students from severe weather.
Severe weather can cause grievous injury to students and staff. Not to mention, it also impacts school functions, operations and infrastructure. Protecting students from severe weather is difficult to do without the right tools. One of the best tools is a push notification system powered by a reliable, real-time weather network.
PHow do push notifications keep students safe? We pulled together a few use cases to show you just how helpful these notifications can be for decision-makers at schools.
Keep Students Safe Outdoors
During the warmer spring and summer months, teachers love to get their kids outside. Not only does this offer a change of environment for young minds, but it also it a great way to learn about science. The outdoors is the perfect place to study natural sciences like geology and meteorology. However, these trips outdoors can be dangerous if severe weather moves in.
Severe weather events can form quickly. In fact, they can form just in the time teachers get their classes together and outside for a lesson. A great way to ensure your outdoor learners are safe is to enable push notifications for teachers and staff. That way, teachers will get a visual and audible alert on their mobile device. No matter where they are on campus, the alert will let them know there’s severe weather on the way. It’s a great way to make sure kids are safe during fun, outdoor lessons instead of banning them altogether.
Severe weather also poses a threat to students outdoors on open campuses. Some schools still require students to walk outdoors to get from building to building. This can be dangerous for a number of reasons, and the weather is definitely one of those reasons. Push notifications allow administrators to coordinate class changes around severe weather and keep students out of harm’s way.
Coordinate Student Drop-Off and Pick-Up
Push alerts are also helpful when it comes to coordinating student drop-off and pick-up during severe weather events. Most of the time, schools allows students to wait outdoors before and after school after drop-off or before pick-up. While the school day technically isn’t in session, students are still on campus and their safety should still be paramount.
Last minute changes pulling kids into the school can confuse students, parents and leave people at the risk of the elements. Get rid of those situations by planning ahead of time by using push notifications and real-time weather visualization.
Maybe you need more time to prepare for bringing students inside before school than you do after school. Custom push notifications will allow you to choose different time ranges and storm distances for each alert.
Horns are Still Helpful!
While push notifications from a strong weather network are a great way to keep students safe, they’re not always the best answer. For example, coaches often do not carry their phones on them during practices and games. Without a mobile device handy, the best way to facilitate severe weather warnings in real-time is with an onsite horn. Horn and strobe systems are an unmistakable alert perfect for clearing fields and other outdoor spaces at schools when severe weather is on its way. Our Outdoor Alerting System, like the push notification and Sferic Mobile, are powered by the world’s largest, proprietary weather and lightning networks.
