Safety & Compliance

1Purpose & Scope

BlueBird Alerts is designed to deliver fast, reliable internal emergency notifications to school staff who have the BlueBird app installed. It is a push-notification and in-app alert system, not an emergency dispatch system.

• Sends real-time push notifications to registered iOS and Android devices
• Provides administrators a single activation point for school-wide alerts
• Supports training drills via a dedicated "Training Mode". A standard drill sends no push notification when it starts, but staff who haven't acknowledged it get reminder notifications about every 3 minutes that can sound like the real alarm
• Scoped to individual schools: each school's records are kept separate, and access is checked on the server for every request

2Emergency Disclaimer

In the web admin console, the live alarm form asks the administrator to confirm that 911 has been called or isn't needed. The mobile apps don't include this step, so train staff to call 911 separately.

• The web admin console's live alarm form includes an EMS acknowledgment checkbox; the iOS and Android apps do not
• Training drills are labeled as drills in the app and don't send text messages to staff. A standard drill sends no push notification when it starts, so it appears for staff who have the app open; a silent drill also sends a quiet push notification so locked phones show the drill. During a standard drill, staff who haven't acknowledged it get a reminder notification about every 3 minutes. Those reminders don't say DRILL and can sound like the real alarm, so tell staff before a drill starts
• Safety disclaimers are shown on the admin dashboard, login portal, and alarm activation form
• Teachers and staff can also activate alarms from the mobile apps, so make calling 911 part of your school's emergency plan and staff training

3Data Privacy

BlueBird stores the data needed for the features your school uses. That includes staff accounts and, when your school uses rosters, student names, grades, guardian contacts and incident accountability records.

• User accounts store name, email, phone (optional), and hashed credentials
• Device tokens are stored and used exclusively for push notification delivery
• Alert history is retained within the platform for audit and drill-report purposes
• Message content sent via push or SMS is logged for audit trail and troubleshooting
• Data is scoped per school; administrators can access only the schools they have been granted

4Role-Based Access Control

BlueBird Alerts uses a multi-tier role system to ensure users have access only to what they need.

• Staff: can receive alerts and acknowledge them on their device; no admin console access
• Building Admin: can activate and deactivate alarms, manage users, and view reports for their school
• District Admin: oversight access across all schools in their district
• Super Admin: platform-level access; manages tenant provisioning and system configuration

All authenticated active users can trigger emergency alarms. Only Building Admins and above can deactivate an active alarm. TOTP two-factor authentication is strongly encouraged for all administrator accounts.

5Audit Logging

BlueBird Alerts keeps an audit log of key actions within the platform, including:

• Alarm activations and deactivations: who, when, and message content
• User account changes: creation, role changes, and deactivation
• Admin logins and session events
• Access code generation and redemption
• Push delivery outcomes and acknowledgement events

6Device Awareness

Real-time push delivery depends on staff having the BlueBird app installed and registered. The platform provides device health visibility to administrators at all times.

• Total registered device count is shown in the System Health panel on the admin dashboard
• Recently active devices (seen within 30 days) are tracked separately from stale registrations
• Device coverage (the ratio of active users with registered devices) is a key readiness indicator
• Stale or revoked device tokens are automatically pruned from the delivery pool on the next push attempt

Schools should aim for at least one registered device per active user to ensure full push coverage during an emergency.

7System Reliability

BlueBird Alerts is designed with high availability in mind for critical communication paths.

• Emergency alert delivery is never blocked by billing status or subscription plan limits
• Push delivery uses industry-standard APNs and FCM infrastructure with automatic retry logic
• Schools can turn on text messages to staff for live alarms (via Twilio). When enabled, texts are sent alongside push notifications
• Training Mode lets administrators run drills without texting staff. A standard drill sends no push notification when it starts, but acknowledgement reminders (about every 3 minutes, to staff who haven't acknowledged) can sound like the real alarm
• The admin console provides real-time alarm state visibility with no polling delay

8Training Support

Regular drills are essential for ensuring staff familiarity with the alert system before a real emergency occurs.

• Training Mode shows the drill on staff devices: a standard drill sends no push notification when it starts and appears for staff who have the app open, and a silent drill also sends a quiet push notification. Drills don't send text messages to staff
• During a standard drill, staff who haven't acknowledged it get a reminder notification about every 3 minutes. Those reminders don't say DRILL and can sound like the real alarm, so announce drills to staff in advance
• The Drill Readiness panel on the dashboard shows push configuration status and device registration counts
• Post-drill PDF reports are automatically generated and available for download
• The system surfaces a "no recent drill" reminder when no alerts have been sent in the past 7 days
• Access codes allow new staff to self-register before a drill without requiring admin action per-user