In this featured piece by K-12 Dive, the publication reports on guidance from K-12 technology experts and Singlewire Software: schools should treat everyday communication as safety infrastructure and use it to test whether their systems are ready for an emergency. Drawing on Singlewire’s State of K-12 Critical Communications Report — an analysis of notification activity from about 16,000 schools using the Singlewire InformaCast platform — the article notes that schools sent nearly 20 million notifications over the 2025-26 school year, only 8% of them emergencies. That sheer volume of routine messaging, the report suggests, gives facilities leaders a built-in way to confirm the same systems will perform when it counts.
Key Takeaways
- Treat communication as safety infrastructure: the system schools use every day for bells and announcements is the same one they’ll rely on in an emergency, so daily use is a practical way to test that it works.
- Routine messaging builds readiness: schools sent nearly 20 million notifications across the 2025-26 school year, with just 8% tied to emergencies, evidence that everyday reliability is the foundation of emergency response.
- The strongest schools build in redundancy across channels: after in-building devices like speakers, phones, and displays, email was the most-used channel at 76.7%, followed by mobile app push at 57% and text at 53%, pairing tools that reach people inside with ones that follow them out the door.
- Align drills with real-world activity: comparing drill communication to actual message patterns, and planning for predictable high-pressure moments like mornings and the start of the year, helps leaders spot gaps, using a shared vocabulary like the Standard Response Protocol from The “I Love U Guys” Foundation.
- Facilities and IT should plan together: leaders should confirm with IT colleagues that connectivity and digital infrastructure can support security and communication systems, since these are interdependent parts of the school network.
Original Story
Regardless of the technology they use, daily communications gives school leaders a way to test their systems as safety infrastructure to ensure security and emergency systems work as intended, says Singlewire. The company noted that the system used for bells and announcements is the same one that a school will lean on in a crisis.
Behind on-premise devices like speakers, phones and displays, the most-used communication channel is email, used by 76.7% of schools, followed by mobile app push at 57% and SMS at 53%, according to Singlewire’s data. The schools that communicate the best build in redundancy, using several channels at once and pairing in-building systems that reach everyone in the building with “digital means that follow people out the door,” the company says.
Facility leaders should also work with IT colleagues to confirm that security and communication systems have the digital infrastructure, like high-speed connectivity, to support them and integrate into the broader ecosystem, according to Keith Krueger, CEO of the Consortium for School Networking.