My kids are teenagers now; however I still remember how I felt the first day they went to school. My kids were always with me – 24/7. I knew what they were doing and if they were safe. As a mom I wanted to know my kids were always protected.
We had a bit of a scare when our son was not even two years old. He attended a special nursery school twice a week based on suggestions from his physical and occupational therapists. I hated the idea of leaving my baby with strangers, but I knew it was the best for him.
One Tuesday morning I dropped our son off like I normally do. Our daughter also attended a nursery school but she went to a different school on different days.
When I returned home from dropping our son off from school I was greeted by our neighbor who was freaking out. She was running up and down the stairs in our condo building in her pajamas shouting “They are dropping planes everywhere! They just dropped a plane on a mall in New Jersey! Oh my God! What is going on?”
I had no idea what she was talking about. She was in a total panic. So I ran inside and turned on the news. She was somewhat right. Planes were “dropping” – into the World Trade Center.
You guessed it. It was September 11, 2001. I was home with our daughter but our son was at his nursery school. Needless to say I dashed back to the school and grabbed him to get him home with me. I wasn’t the only parent to do that. Many others were at the school too.
I was relieved to have both kids home with me safe and sound. I felt even better when my husband got home.
I hope and pray nothing like that ever happens again.
I do worry about other threats that could happen when my kids are at school. We live in the 10 mile “danger zone” of a nuclear plant (trust me, if I could move away we’d do it in a heartbeat). What if something happens at the plant?
I also worry about psycho people coming into the school with a gun shooting teachers and students. Sadly that happens far too often than it should. Unfortunately this has become a real threat to worry about.
Not too long ago the high school had a fire alarm go off too. It wasn’t a drill. Something caught on fire – I believe in the custodian’s closet if I recall correctly.
Needless to say things can happen when your kids are at school. I am NOT trying to frighten anyone. I am simply suggesting that parents, and schools, need to have something in place in the event of an emergency.
There is an application that can help. It’s called Safety Blanket.
Even if a school has plenty of safety measures in place (ID check, scanners…) things can happen.
Safety Blanket is a user friendly app. It’s for parents, teachers and schools. It’s a way for everyone to communicate with one another in an effective way so that everyone is on the “same page.” It helps to make sure that safety practices are being accounted for and that all communication is effective.
Anyone can use this app. There is no need for extensive training. The app is very easy to use and is easily seen through graphics so teachers don’t need to read through a manual to send an alarm. They can simply select an icon on the home screen that coincides with what is happening.
With Safety Blanket teachers and school can maintain live rosters. With the built in rosters, teachers are able to report what child is in their classroom and who is missing. This helps to keep a head count to ensure that every child present at school that day is accounted for. Many teachers still use paper attendance sheets which can get misplaced during an emergency. With Safety Blanket, the student attendance is right there at the teacher’s fingertips.
Safety Blanket lets everyone know if there is an issue involving fire, weather, hazardous materials, medical emergency or something else. It has five different alarms available with the touch of button. It also helps to connect schools with first responders in the event of an emergency (Police, Fire, etc.). The app streamlines communication across the board. It can even be set up so that administrators of the school district can be updated as well as parents. In other words everyone knows what is going on in real time.
In addition to the live rosters and alarm system, Safety Blanket features secure texting where important messages can be exchanged. The app even keeps track of all drills to help better prepare year end reports and more importantly to ensure that all drills are effective.
I think that the Fire Marshall, Police Department and other first responders will appreciate this application. It should cut down on response time and get help sooner.
As a parent it would be great to be informed about what is going on at school at all times, rather than hearing about it when your child gets home from school or on the local news.
Check out this brief video for more information about this important application that all schools should have in place.
To sum it all up, Safety Blanket is an app that provides up to the minute tracking to ensure that kids are safe at school. The app includes live rosters and also has a series of alarms to alert teachers and even parents of what is going on at school. For school administrators, it streamlines communication with easy access through mobile and desktop portals. The app also evaluates drills to ensure that current safety procedures are actually effective, and it logs everything for future reference and review. The goal with Safety Blanket is to make schools safer.
If you would like to learn more about Safety Blanket visit Safety-Blanket.com. You can also check them out on social media – Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
If this sounds like something you would like to have at your child’s school, or in your school district, please contact your school’s administrators and tell them about Safety Blanket (be sure to give them the URL so they can check it out themselves).
As a parent it’s important for us to know what is going on with our children at all times – even when they are at school. Give yourself peace of mind, and stay informed, with Safety Blanket.
Kimberly
*I have partnered with Safety Blanket to bring you this information. Although compensated the opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.
Karen F. says
I’d love to see this used at my kid’s school! Too often we hear about what happened after the fact, it would be great to be informed of things in real time.
Chelsea R. says
How is this not already being used by schools?
Mary A. says
I want this in my child’s school! Has anyone taken this to their district yet?