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Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Pikmykid Achieves Success With Positive Reviews and Excellent Ranking

TAMPA, Fla., Apr. 29, 2022 – Pikmykid, the leading provider of school safety and dismissal solutions, today shares its success among schools nationwide, including its impressive Net Promoter Score (NPS), measuring customer experience and predicting business growth.

The Pikmykid platform has achieved an NPS score of 60, putting the platform in the same category of customer experience management as major brands including Starbucks, Netflix and Amazon, as well as Samsung, Intel and John Deere. Additionally, Pikmykid’s NPS score remains higher than mega-companies, such as Apple and Google.

The intent of NPS is to measure the willingness of customers to recommend a company’s products or services to others. It is used as a proxy for gauging the customer’s overall satisfaction with a company’s product or service and the customer’s loyalty to the brand.…Read More

Mental health tops education leaders’ post-pandemic priorities

Education leaders are beginning to move on from COVID-related safety measures, and are instead focusing on managing mental health and violence on campus, according to a new report from Rave Mobile Safety.

Rave’s report,  2022 Crisis Communication and Safety in Education Survey, surveyed more than 400 K-12 employees and more than 380 higher education staffers.

The past two years of COVID-19 restrictions have been a challenging time for students, staff, faculty and parents/guardians. Campus leaders are concerned about how the lingering effects of the pandemic will impact school communities going forward, especially if the right resources and safety measures are not put in place.…Read More

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How schools can improve infrastructure and air quality as masks come off

As the CDC shifts its recommendations and schoolchildren are no longer required to wear masks in many parts of the country, questions remain about how aging school infrastructure can support the health and safety needs–including air quality–that accompany reduced precautions.

The March 2021 American Rescue Plan brought widespread economic aid to address such issues, with $122.8 billion specifically earmarked for K-12 districts, but this funding has an expiration date. How can school districts best act now to create healthier schools and repair crumbling infrastructure before the first round of funding expires in September 2022?

Many school districts nationwide have been using stimulus dollars to rethink infrastructure, classroom design, and building upgrades. According to the U.S. Department of Education, one of the most popular uses of federal funding has been repairing school facilities, especially ventilation systems, to improve air quality and reduce the spread of Covid-19.…Read More

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Pikmykid Prioritizes School Safety with Expansion of Features

TAMPA, Fla., Mar. 17, 2022 –  Pikmykid, the leading provider of school safety and dismissal solutions, today announces its latest features to provide schools with the most inclusive resources to implement a safer learning environment for students. 

The Pikmykid platform initially began as a solution for schools to streamline drop-offs and dismissals safely and efficiently but has since expanded to become a fully comprehensive safety platform. The platform now includes access to a safety panic button, enabling school staff to raise an alarm on any device for over a dozen different emergencies that can occur with one push of a button. While this feature will allow staff to take quick action against school violence or other unprecedented events, it can also be used as a resource for more common emergencies, including a medical crisis or power outage. This latest safety feature has allowed Pikmykid to tie dismissal, safety, and parent engagement all into a single, user-friendly platform.

Along with the installation of its safety panic button, Pikmykid has also added a  Daily Health Check-In module to help parents and teachers identify students who may be experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. The customizable health questionnaire allows schools to determine the most pertinent information they need to keep students safe. The survey only takes a few seconds for parents to complete and will provide school administrators a variety of insights about students’ health to ensure a safe and ongoing learning environment. The Daily Health Check-In will also help schools apply social distancing measures during morning drop-offs and dismissal and will limit the number of visitors allowed on school property. …Read More

3 proactive school safety measures leaders can take in 2022

After a lull in threats of violence early in the pandemic, we are once again seeing tragic stories of deadly shootings and acts of violence as schools reopen. Schools and educators are in difficult positions and looking for ways to keep kids and staff safe. Nationwide, schools are preparing for potentially harmful threats, putting precautions in place, and evolving the school safety landscape.

As a parent of school-aged children, I received notifications regarding the recent threats that trended on Tik Tok in December. Local authorities, the FBI, district leaders and school security teams all worked together to monitor the situation. But what proactive safety and security measures can schools be taking?

Here are three ways schools can reduce potential safety risks before and during an emergency.…Read More

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Pikmykid and Central Access Announce Partnership to Advance School Safety and Efficiency

TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 18, 2022 –  Pikmykid, the premier school safety and dismissal platform, today announces its partnership with  Central Access, the leading provider of K-12 education technology tools for the state of Mississippi.

Through this partnership, Pikmykid and Central Access will bring the best Student Information System (SIS) and dismissal technology to the educators and parents of Mississippi, starting with a fully integrated solution with Application Programming Interface (API) integrations. As the two companies continue to grow together, customers can expect to see deeper, more extensive integrations and capabilities.

“Central Access and Pikmykid have shared several customers over the years, and we’re excited to bring an even better experience to those users,” said Saravana Pat Bhava, CEO and Co-Founder of Pikmykid. “This partnership was one of the easiest decisions we’ve made going into 2022, and we’re truly honored to be the exclusive provider of safety and dismissal technology for Central Access clients.”…Read More

Salt Lake City School District Partners with Vector Solutions to Manage its Staff Training

Tampa, FL – February 3, 2022 – The Salt Lake City School District in Utah has adopted Vector Training (formerly SafeSchools), an award-winning online training management system  and Vector Solutions’ online video training courses to help the district manage staff training and compliance for its 4,000 employees. The switch to Vector Training helps the district address federal, state and local compliance training requirements, along with district-specific policies.

Vector’s Safety & Compliance course library includes expert-authored online courses such as Bullying Recognition and Response, Active Shooter, Accident Investigation, Athletic Liability, Bloodborne Pathogen Exposure Prevention, and more. Vector Training helps districts simplify training management and comply with important state and federal training mandates, including OSHA, Title IX, Mandatory Reporting, Youth Suicide Prevention, Bullying and FERPA.

The Salt Lake City School District selected Vector Training after an extensive vetting process. Among its requirements were:…Read More

Vector Solutions’ Student Safety & Wellness Courses Wins Platinum Award in THE Journal’s New Product Awards

Tampa, FL – December 29, 2021 – Vector Solutions, the leading provider of training and software solutions to help schools make their operations and communities safer, smarter and better, was named a winner in THE Journal’s New Product Awards for its Student Safety & Wellness Courses. The courses earned a Platinum award – the highest available – in the Social Emotional Learning Program Management category. 

Vector’s Student Safety & Wellness Courses are powerful, engaging web-based video lessons authored by subject-matter experts on topics such as Bullying & Cyberbullying, Youth Suicide Awareness, Alcohol, Vaping & Drug Prevention, Sexual Harassment, Digital Citizenship, Stress & Anxiety, Depression, and Healthy Relationships. The courses feature diverse peer presenters and can be used for primary prevention training or for remediation with students who may have disciplinary issues related to these topics. They include lesson plans and  activities to help facilitate conversations about these important topics.

“We created our Student Safety & Wellness Courses to help schools support student wellbeing by helping students understand and navigate difficult situations and address stress, anxiety and depression,” said Vector Solutions CEO Marc Scheipe. “Winning this New Product Award from THE Journal validates the importance of this work and Vector’s mission to help make schools safer and more inclusive.”…Read More

How to assess your school’s indoor air quality

COVID-19 ushered forth a plethora of new safety guidelines and strategies intended to bring students and teachers back to the classroom as safely as possible. Indoor air quality has topped the list of school leaders’ concerns.

With students back in physical classrooms, air quality must take priority regardless of a district’s mask policy.

Join this eSchool News webinar to learn about:…Read More

New ManagedMethods Report Reveals 30% of K-12 School Districts Lack Cloud Application Security

BOULDER, Colo.—November 16, 2021— ManagedMethods, the leading Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cybersecurity, student safety, and compliance platform for education, today announced new research that found gaps in the cybersecurity strategies of district administrators when protecting their cloud collaboration and storage applications. The research findings were released in a special report,  What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You: New Survey Identifies Gaps in K-12 Cloud Security, commissioned by ManagedMethods and administered by the  EdWeek Research Center.

The report reveals 30% of district administrators with at least a medium level of influence on technology decisions do not have a security platform to protect cloud applications. In total, half of respondents either did not have a platform in place or did not know if a platform had been implemented in their district.

“School districts have long led the charge into cloud technology by embracing Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cloud applications. This new research tells us that some district administrators are unaware of the cybersecurity, safety, and privacy risks that come with using them,” said Charlie Sander, Chief Executive Officer at ManagedMethods. “Technology leaders need to know their cloud environments may be vulnerable, and that it’s their responsibility to secure them.”…Read More