Improve Mass Communication & Emergency Alerting

Challenges Faced

Long Branch Public Schools has 11 sites in their district, which created a challenge for communicating with each site at the same time. Long Branch Public Schools utilized cell phones, two-way radios, emails, and even a special emergency channel on their radios, but none of those communication methods met their safety needs.

Proposed Solution

Long Branch Public Schools administrators were drawn to CrisisGo for the ability to mass-communicate with all their buildings and staff at one time. They first learned about CrisisGo through a superintendents conference, and after some research, they realized CrisisGo would meet their school safety needs. By using CrisisGo for their safety communication, Long Branch Public Schools was able to:

• Grant every staff member the ability to send an emergency alert.
• Utilize a mass-communication system to stay connected with all their school buildings.
• Provide a desktop safety app for staff members without smartphones.

By using CrisisGo, an AWS Advanced Technology Partner, Long Branch Public Schools' platform runs on Amazon Web Services, which ensures the most reliable, secure, and redundant connection possible for school safety needs.

Outcomes

Long Branch Public Schools found that not only did the mass communication capabilities of CrisisGo strengthen their school safety, they also valued the ability for each staff member to alert others to an emergency.

According to Walter J. O'Neill, Jr., School Safety Specialist and Security Manager for Long Branch Public Schools, they've successfully used CrisisGo to respond to incidents, including a potential kidnapping that was averted and a lockdown in response to a shooting that occurred near the campus.

O'Neill stated, "The biggest improvement, I think, that we have now is that every single employee, regardless of their title, their education, or their position has the same authority, ability, and knowledge to save lives."