At least in my area that is the case. Schools have so many pull stations whereas other places like stores have very few, sometimes even just one. I find it ironic considering that schools are the places where pull stations are abused the most.
It’s because of local codes; you’ll see tons of pull stations in college buildings, hospitals, office buildings, and other places.
That’s right; stores and restaurants may not have many pulls throughout the main areas, but I’ve seen schools, college buildings, hospitals, even the main public library in my city have pulls everywhere.
As the codes changed, the number of pulls in those kind of buildings increased with new installations or constructions. An example is my middle school, built in 1957. There are large old Gamewell pull stations in each hallway, typically one to three, one pull in each lobby and larger room (the cafeteria, music room, auditorium/stage and computer lab), and the gymnasium has two. However, the locker rooms don’t have them, the kitchen doesn’t have one, and the exit stairwells don’t have them, along with quite a few exits leading to outside. There’s also one that isn’t very close to the boiler/mechanical rooms. (There aren’t even many heat sensors or a sprinkler system!)
Now, the K-8 school I had kindergarten at was built in 1974. There are WAY more pull stations (mostly Simplex 4251-30s, and a few Edwards and Simplex break-glass pulls.) There are four in the main lobby/cafetorium, hallways have quite a few of them, nearly all the exits leading outside from the hallways have pulls, the media center has four, the main gymnasium has three, the kitchen has one, they even have pulls in a few oddball areas like the west wing computer lab and the boiler room! But there are a few areas that could use a pull station (they do have alarm signals in them), such as the exit right outside the main gymnasium, the small gymnasium, the locker rooms and the hallway near the boiler room, electrical/mechanical rooms and the receiving dock. Other than that, this school is pretty much covered really well in terms of pull stations (there are also many duct smoke detectors throughout the building.)