When an emergency or a sudden weather event happens, the last thing you want to do is scramble to remember how to use the software. Emergency Preparedness is all about doing the "heavy lifting" while things are calm, so you can act fast when they aren't.
Here is how to set up your Content Manager to be ready for anything.
In an urgent situation, every second counts. By following these steps today, you can turn a stressful morning into a "one-click" task.
You don't have to wait for a snowstorm to write a "School Closed" alert! You can create alerts ahead of time and keep them as Drafts.
The Strategy: Create alerts for your most common scenarios now.
Common Drafts to Have Ready:
❄️ Inclement Weather: "School Closed Today due to weather conditions."
🔌 Power/Water Issue: "Campus is currently without power. Please check email for pickup instructions."
🚌 Major Bus Delay: "Significant transportation delays district-wide. Check the Transportation page for details."
How to do it: Follow the standard steps to create an alert, but do not check the "Publish" box. Simply save it so it lives in your dashboard.
If you don't want to draft specific scenarios, at least create a Template Alert with your school’s branding and a generic title like "Urgent Update."
When an emergency happens, you just open the template, swap the text for the current situation, and hit Publish.
If you are at the District level, remember that you can push an alert to all school sites at once.
During your prep, make sure you know exactly which sites are grouped together so you don't accidentally leave a school out during a district-wide closure.
When the time comes to push a live emergency alert, use this 3-step check:
Check the Style: Is it a Pop-up? (For emergencies, it almost always should be!)
Check the Expiry: Did you set it to expire? For weather, we recommend setting it to expire at the end of the school day so it’s gone by the next morning.
Check the Link: If you are sending parents to a specific page for more info (like a list of pickup locations), make sure that link is included in the body of the alert.