School administrators face shrinking budgets and increased safety concerns. It is more important than ever to find communication solutions that improve sharing of critical information between administration, staff and parents. BlazeCast focuses not only on personal notification methods, like phone, SMS and email, but also includes a fully integrated IP paging module. The module is a powerful, full-featured paging controller that can broadcast to overhead IP and analog speakers, existing PA systems, and certain IP phone sets, all from the same interface as sending voice and text notification. School districts see improved ROI by unifying overhead paging, phone systems and bells onto one network, saving on wiring and maintenance costs.

Simplify Network Infrastructure

BlazeCast reduces the need for separate infrastructure for paging, phones and bells, by unifying them into one integrated IP network. Since BlazePoint IP speakers and IP phones are powered over Ethernet, the entire system can be maintained by IT administrators, saving expensive installation and maintenance costs. Additionally, it enables all your communication devices to be controlled from one, easy-to-use web interface.

Increase Parental Engagement

Building a strong school community of engaged parents requires frequent, meaningful communication. Schools cannot rely on newsletters sent home with students to reach parents. BlazeCast reaches parents by phone, e-mail and other devices with key messages, and provides a real-time audit trail. It means that schools can confirm that report cards and other key messages have been received, ensuring their parents are involved with the school. Additionally, for information that requires confirmation, like a change in school hours, BlazeCast provides a record of parents confirming they have received the information, saving staff time since school administrators do not need to follow up with parents individually.

Improve Student Achievement

One of the easiest ways to improve student achievement is by increasing attendance. BlazeCast’s unified notification platform can be used to notify parents when their children are not in class and confirm that the parents received the message. School districts have seen an increase of up to 5% when parents are notified of their children's absences.

Reducing classroom disruptions is another simple way of boosting student achievement. BlazeCast includes an integrated IP paging controller enabling overhead paging to be targeted to only those locations that need to hear the message. For instance, it has the ability to page only certain classrooms, only hallways, or any other configuration. BlazeCast delivers your message as needed, while allowing other classes to continue without disruption.

Improve Student Safety

When inclement weather requires that a school be closed early, all parents need to be contacted to pick up their children or provide alternative arrangements and a clear audit trail confirming that each parent received the notification is required. When a school closure is required, BlazeCast reduces response times and improves communications.

When an emergency develops at a school requiring a lockdown, rumors about the situation will spread quickly as students contact friends and family about the incident without accurate information. Principals and other school leaders need to proactively notify parents and other stakeholders with accurate, up-to-date information in order to prevent the spread of false information. BlazeCast's unified notification platform ensures that all parents receive up-to-date information as it becomes available reducing inbound calls requesting information freeing up crucial staff time.

Emergency Response

In an emergency, it is critical to reach the staff, parents and students in a timely manner. Since students and staff will not have access to mobile phones or email in class, BlazeCast's IP paging module is the only effective way of communicating with them. Additionally, pre-recorded messages for fire drills and school lockdowns reduce errors. However, this method is ineffective in communicating with parents, and other off-campus stakeholders. By integrating overhead paging with notification to personal devices like phone, SMS and e-mail into a unified interface, BlazeCast ensures administrators can communicate emergency messages to all stakeholders quickly, and effectively.

Get Started

Have a question? Let us know, our team will be happy to show you how you can use BlazeCast in your schools. Or find out more about how BlazeCast works.