No cause

for alarm

by Darren O'Keeffe

A growing number of schools are signing up to an innovative

new system which notifies parents and guardians when a mass

evacuation is underway.

The technology is designed to get children away from the

school safely, especially during a bomb scare or fire, instead of

remaining at the designated assembly point.

EAARS (Emergency, Alert, Action and Response System) sends an

automatic bulk text message to parents or guardians once an alarm

is raised. The two way system means parents text back to confirm

whether they can collect their child. This means the school’s

emergency manager can co-ordinate how many children need to

be transported away to a safe location by the school staff.

Peter Cap is the designer of the system. A former teacher

and principal, he says previous experience in the school setting

highlighted a need for the technology. “When I was principal at

a school we had a bomb scare. We had 500 kids brought to our

assembly point, the oval. But the problem then was what to do

with the children from there. I remember hoping that it was just

a hoax and nothing would happen. I felt the responsibility for

me as a principal was to get the children to a safe place. EAARS

does that, by notifying parents and getting them to pick up the

children from the assembly point,” he explains.

Norton Summit Primary School is one of a growing number of

schools that has incorporated EAARS into its evacuation process.

The country school is nestled in the wooded Adelaide Hills,

catering for primary and junior primary school students in

classes from Reception to Year 7. The classrooms are located in

various buildings on campus with a central library complex.

The topography of the region is challenging from an

evacuation perspective, with only one access, which is the

roadway adjacent to the school. The school has developed a

three-tiered emergency and lockdown plan that identifies all

the physical obstacles to a rapid evacuation and or lockdown.

It has incorporated the EAARS system into this plan.

The school negotiated the plan through meetings with

EAARS personnel, the school community and the emergency

manager Tanya Frohloff.

Cap says the EAARS system is run online, meaning if the school’s

PC or laptop is damaged in a fi re, the bulk text will still be sent to

parents. It also means the emergency manager can access the

system and liaise with parents from a remote location.

The online aspect also makes registration to the scheme easier.

“The system is all there, online. Schools simply register online. They

download the contact numbers themselves on the website.”

Cap says support is offered to schools when it comes to

incorporating the system into an overall evacuation plan.

“We’ll sit down with the school – it’s not a large inservice

thing, it’s all very straightforward – but we’ll also discuss

evacuation points and access.

“The school will then send information to the staff, school

council and parents to inform them about the system,” he says.

Further information on the EAARS system can be found at http://www.eaars.net/

School News / Editorial Campus Review 11 th Sept 2007