Raptor Helps Calallen ISD Avoid Common School Safety Alerting Pitfalls
The Challenge
John Garcia, the Safety Administrator at Calallen ISD, holds a unique perspective when it comes to school safety. With 14 years of experience on the police force—two of which he served as police chief—Garcia has overseen a substantial number
of school safety drills. So when he accepted his role at Calallen ISD in early 2023, he was eager to help the school district avoid the challenges
and obstacles he’d observed while on the force. These include:
Inefficient drilling & accountability practices
Many schools used a binder of pre-printed rosters to account for students, which created gaps in their safety practices, such as:
- Out-of-date rosters
- No way to easily account for visitors
- Staff would have to remember to bring those binders with them during an emergency
Limited communication during emergencies
With social media and texting, false information begins to circulate as soon as an incident happens—perhaps to the point where concerned parents rush to school. Being able to communicate accurate information about ongoing incidents would help direct the flow of reliable information to all stakeholders as well as enable emergency responders to direct resources.
Lack of a streamlined means of communication for day-to-day incidents
Not every incident requires a lockdown. Having the means for teachers to communicate when they needed support— such as for a student in need of behavior or medical intervention—without causing panic across the school community was important.
How Raptor Helped
Raptor Emergency Management helps CISD bring more structure and order to drilling and emergency response
Raptor Emergency Management’s seamlessly integrated modules helps CISD manage drills, instantly notify first responders, accurately account for individuals, and safely reunify families. And, because Raptor Drill Manager allows them to schedule drills in advance, staff and external participants—such as first responders—are aware of upcoming drills and have the information needed for more effective school safety drills
Group messaging during emergencies helps control the flow of information—assuring staff follow the appropriate safety protocols
Familiarity with the technology and the platform means CISD’s school safety protocols are readily available on any web-enabled device, and staff don’t have to waste time looking for papers and binders or disparate apps.
Maintain clear communications during localized incidents using Team Assist
Everyday situations can escalate quickly without the presence of the appropriate personnel to identify and resolve the issue. The Team Assist feature within Raptor Alert gives CISD teachers and staff the power to request help for situations like student fights, irate visitors, or medical incidents. This sends alerts to a pre-determined group of staff and enables those
involved to chat through group messaging.
Because Raptor Team Assist operates in the same manner as Raptor Alert, CISD staff only had to learn one platform—the same app is used for critical emergencies and
everyday incidents.
- Customer
- Challenge
- Inefficient drilling & accountability practices
- Limited communication during emergencies
- Lack of a streamlined means of communication for day-to-day incidents
- Product
- Solution
- Raptor Emergency Management helps CISD bring more structure and order to drilling and emergency response
- Group messaging during emergencies helps control the flow of information—assuring staff follow the appropriate safety protocols
- Maintain clear communications during localized incidents using Team Assist