During my years as a teacher and school principal, I learned that having an emergency operations plan and being prepared to respond to an emergency are not always the same thing.
Most districts have emergency preparedness procedures that include conducting drills, working closely with first responders, and investing time preparing for emergencies. Those efforts certainly matter. But when an incident actually occurs, success usually depends on something much simpler: whether the people who need to respond immediately know what’s happening, where it’s happening, and what they’re expected to do.
This sounds straightforward, but school or district administrators know emergencies rarely unfold as neatly as they do on paper. And they occur every single day.
At CENTEGIX, our recent analysis of more than 346,000 safety alerts from the 2025-2026 school year found that 99% of alerts involved everyday emergencies rather than campus-wide lockdowns. The overwhelming majority (88%) were for behavioral situations that required staff assistance, while medical emergencies accounted for 10% of alerts. Extreme, campus-wide threats accounted for only about 1% of alerts.
Whether it’s a student experiencing a medical emergency during lunch, a fight in the hallway, severe weather moving toward campus, or a more serious threat, the first few moments are often filled with uncertainty. The faster schools can replace that uncertainty with clear, actionable information, the more effectively they can respond.
The strongest school systems weave emergency preparedness into daily operations, creating safer environments while supporting the people, processes, and decisions that keep schools running every day.
The Incidents Schools Respond to Every Day
The school safety incidents that make the news don’t usually reflect what schools experience most often. The reality is that educators respond to safety incidents every day, and most of them never make the headlines.
According to our research, 70% of alerts for assistance are for student conduct-related incidents. Because of this, the systems, procedures, and partnerships schools build should support these everyday situations just as effectively as they support the rare emergency. In many ways, daily incidents provide the greatest opportunity to strengthen preparedness because they allow districts to build familiarity with their tools and operating procedures, and evaluate how well their response processes actually work.
Expanding the use of emergency response technologies also builds value in the investments districts make, and stretches the return on those investments.
School Safety Extends Beyond the Classroom
One finding from this year’s data that warrants discussion was that 58% of alerts originated outside of the classroom. Hallways, exterior spaces, offices, cafeterias, and other shared areas accounted for the majority of safety incidents.
This probably isn’t surprising to anyone who works in a school. Students and staff move throughout campus all day, from drop-off and dismissal to lunch, athletic events, and common areas, each presenting different situational challenges outside of the classroom.
That’s why school facilities and operations teams play such an important role in emergency preparedness. They understand how people move throughout the campus, where visibility may be limited, and what methods of communication or access can become more challenging during an emergency.
Effective preparedness isn’t just about securing a building. It’s about creating an environment where staff can communicate and coordinate effectively no matter where an incident occurs.
Connected Information Empowers a Better Response
During an emergency, people instinctively want to help. The challenge is having the information they need to respond quickly and effectively. When information is delayed, incomplete, or inconsistent, responders spend valuable time trying to understand the situation before they can begin addressing it. That’s why connecting the systems that support emergency response has become an essential part of district operations.
When communication systems, digital mapping, emergency procedures, and real-time information work together, administrators, facility personnel, school resource officers, and other responders can operate from the same understanding of an incident, instead of piecing together information from multiple sources.
Expectations for a layered, connected safety strategy are growing. Districts want real-time information sharing, precise location data, and coordinated workflows that reduce confusion and support faster decision-making during emergencies.
For facilities professionals, this represents an important opportunity to contribute beyond traditional building operations. The systems they oversee, from building infrastructure and campus mapping to communications and emergency planning, play a direct role in how effectively a district can respond when every second counts.
Rethinking What Preparedness Looks Like
One of the most encouraging shifts I’ve seen is that districts are beginning to think about safety more holistically. Instead of measuring preparedness solely by completed drills or updated emergency plans, they’re increasingly evaluating whether staff feels confident responding to emergencies—and whether stronger safety practices are improving broader district outcomes.
Limestone Community High School District 310, for example, measures success through indicators like increased graduation rates, stronger attendance, and fewer incidents of violence on campus.
These outcomes don’t happen by accident. They are the result of providing staff with the support, tools, and information they need to create a culture of safety where everyone thrives. In fact, 94% of staff surveyed said wearable panic buttons helped them feel safer at work, and 91% said they enabled them to resolve situations more quickly. When educators have trust in the systems around them, they’re better able to focus on supporting their students.
The same is true for families and communities. Confidence grows when preparedness is woven into the fabric of everyday school operations, not reserved for times of crisis.
School Safety Supports the Entire Community
Protecting students has always been the cornerstone of school safety objectives. Increasingly, it’s also supporting the broader success of the district. When educators feel supported, they’re better positioned to manage classrooms, build relationships with students, and focus on instruction. When districts learn from everyday incidents and use that information to improve operations, they strengthen emergency preparedness and also foster school culture and trust.
As expectations around school safety continue to evolve, I believe the most successful districts will be those that view preparedness as an ongoing operational commitment rather than a checklist. Emergency plans will always matter, but districts that give people the information, confidence, and coordination to act at a moment’s notice will be better prepared to handle emergencies from the everyday to the extreme.
Dr. Roderick Sams, a former high school principal, is the chief development officer at CENTEGIX, a provider of incident response solutions. The company’s full school safety trends report is available here.