Roanoke County Public Schools Improves Emergency Drills, Response Time, & Reunification with Raptor Emergency Management
Roanoke County Public Schools (RCPS), was looking for ways to enhance their existing security protocols
At Roanoke County Public Schools (RCPS), the staff and administration work hard to uphold their district’s safety and security protocols. District and school administrators provide clear expectations and training opportunities; staff— including IT personnel and school resource officers (SROs) as well as teachers— follow through in enacting and helping to fine-tune those protocols. Safety information is freely shared with parents and the local communities. Both internally and externally, the district sends a clear message: Safety is a top priority.
Nonetheless, there were gaps in their school safety plan—but by adding Raptor Emergency Management to their safety and security ecosystem, they were able to fill in those gaps.
Let’s take a closer look at how Raptor helped.
LOCKING DOWN
Although they could send an intercom message to lockdown a school by entering a code into their phone system, doing so did not automatically notify 911—it required a staff member to make that call. In high-stress situations, the possibility of staff panicking and forgetting or being otherwise unable to call 911 was concerning.
With Raptor Emergency Management, users have the power to initiate multiple emergency response mechanisms from one point which means when a staff member at RCPS initiates a lockdown, the Raptor system automatically notifies 911.
Through Raptor® Connect™, which is included at no additional cost within the Raptor Emergency Management suite, schools gain access to our entire ecosystem of partners, including gun detection, mass communication, and audio / visual systems.
INEFFICIENT REUNIFICATION USING PEN & PAPER METHODS
Transitioning from the pen-and-paper method for reunification to Raptor’s patented workflow—which is 100% aligned with and licensed by The “I Love U Guys” Foundation protocols—was a game changer for RCPS.
Raptor’s patented Reunification workflow empowers schools to reunite students and parents with unprecedented structure, security, and speed–up to 4x faster than paper-and-pencil methods.
How it works
– Connected to your student information system, Raptor helps ensure students are only reunified with approved guardians.
– Raptor helps staff confirm the guardian’s identity, check for sex offender status and custodial restrictions, and record their signature at reunification.
– Software automatically sends alerts to the student’s other guardians upon successful reunification to help streamline the process by reducing any additional people waiting in holding areas. Raptor allows for the creation of designated roles and responsibilities for the reunification process.
DRILL ACCOUNTABILITY
Tracking fire drill accountability for each school presented unique challenges, too. School administrators would email confirmation of drill completion; a district administrative assistant would then document each school’s individual status.
Using Raptor Drill Manager, RCPS manages and tracks all their drills, eliminating compliance risks, and they can schedule drill reminders as well as generate reports of each school’s drill activity. By analyzing their drilling reports, they can see what is working and where improvements are still needed.
COMMUNICATING WITH STAFF DURING LOCKDOWNS
Communicating with staff during lockdowns was a challenge—and relaying information to staff—especially those monitoring students— during emergency responses is vital. Because Raptor Alert includes chat capabilities, district staff can communicate at any point of an emergency, sharing not only text-based messages, but also their GPS location, helping the district direct resources more efficiently.
And, because Raptor Alert™ supports two-way communication with both an administrator and a general channel of group chat, they can share key information with the administrators who need it most—without disrupting the critical communication capability of the general channel.
How Raptor Helped
For RCPS Assistant Superintendent Dr. Rhonda Stegall, the difference is clear. Before fully implementing Raptor, the district would have to individually reach out to 27 administrators to confirm emergency responses. With Raptor, their emergency response as a district is markedly more effective and efficient.
HOW RAPTOR STRENGTHENED THEIR EMERGENCY RESPONSE
- Because RCPS’s school resource officers are included in Raptor’s app and the system automatically notifies 911 of a school lockdown, their emergency response time for law enforcement has improved dramatically.
- Communicating quickly during emergency responses is critical. Raptor Alert empowers RCPS to expedite calling 911 for help and because Raptor integrates with 911, the caller’s precise location, type of emergency, and callback number is automatically shared with dispatchers. Raptor Alert supports standard E911 services, is RapidSOS Ready™, and is fully compatible with all standard Public Safety Answering Points and emergency calling infrastructure. Using the group chat feature—which includes a general channel and an administrator channel—in Raptor Alert, RCPS staff can also readily communicate details about the emergency internally.
- While reviewing safety and security protocols was already a priority for the district, partnering with Raptor provided another opportunity: meeting as a district to revisit and expand upon their school safety message.
- Customer
Roanoke County Public Schools,
Roanoke, VA
- Challenge
- Enhance their existing security protocols
- Respond to
emergencies more efficiently
- Product
- Solution
For RCPS Assistant Superintendent Dr. Rhonda Stegall, the difference is clear. Before fully implementing Raptor, the district would have to individually reach out to 27 administrators to confirm emergency responses. With Raptor, their emergency response as a district is markedly more effective and efficient.