School Safety, Part 2: The Crisis Response

by Dr. J. Howard Johnston
Department of Secondary Education, University of South Florida
Tampa, Florida

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(A photo from our 2006 Summer Leadership Institute.)

   “Knowing how to respond quickly and efficiently in a crisis is critical to ensuring the safety of our schools and students. The midst of a crisis is not the time to start figuring out who ought to do what. At that moment, everyone involved – from top to bottom – should know the drill and know each other.”

Margaret Spellings
United States Secretary of Education

    As the scope of the horror at Virginia Tech became more clear throughout the frigid morning of April 16, 2007, many of us interspersed our prayers for the victims and their families with equally fervent thanks that we had been spared from the most immediate and hideous consequences of violence in an education setting. But no informed educator assumes that he or she enjoys perfect or permanent immunity from this kind of horrific tragedy. As one Florida principal put it, “there but for the grace of God goes my school or my community.”

Among school leaders’ most difficult tasks is to acknowledge the possibility of a crisis in our schools and to prepare for that crisis – at the same time we work diligently to prevent it and mitigate the effects of outside violence on our children. In short, it requires that principals plan for the best scenario, which is to prevent a crisis from occurring, but prepare for the worst case as well. The first article in this series focused on prevention; this one addresses the crisis response.

A school crisis can come from almost anywhere and can be caused by nature of by people. They include:

• Natural disasters (earthquake, tornado, hurricane, flood)
• Severe weather
• Fires
• Chemical or hazardous material spills
• Bus crashes
• School shootings
• Bomb threats
• Medical emergencies
• Student or staff deaths (suicide, homicide, unintentional, or   natural)
• Acts of terror or war
• Outbreaks of disease or infections

Because a crisis can originate from sources that are well beyond the control of school leaders, some experts say that it is not a matter of “if but when” a principal will confront a crisis of some type in his or her school. The Assistant Superintendent for General Administration of the Olathe (Kansas) School District concurs, “The question is not if an emergency happens, but when it happens, how prepared are we to handle a situation.”

School Crises

The US Department of Education provides a comprehensive guide for school administrators for the crisis planning. It includes four critical functions: mitigation and planning, preparedness, response, and recovery. A full discussion of these stages can be found at their website or in the first article of this series, School Safety: Planning and Prevention. http://www.principalspartnership.com/feature307.html

According to the Department of Education, a crisis is the time to follow the crisis plan and make use of your preparations. This stage assumes that a comprehensive plan has been developed, reviewed and rehearsed with all school staff and, as appropriate, the student body. It includes these components:

• Determine if a crisis is occurring.
• Identify the type of crisis that is occurring and   determine the   appropriate response.
• Activate the incident management system.
• Ascertain whether an evacuation, reverse   evacuation, lockdown, or   shelter-in-place needs   to be implemented.
• Maintain communication among all relevant staff   at officially   designated locations.
• Establish what information needs to be   communicated to staff,   students, families, and   the community.
• Monitor how emergency first aid is being   administered to the   injured.
• Decide if more equipment and supplies are   needed.

First and foremost, it is the responsibility of the school leadership to ensure the safety of students and staff and to muster assistance as necessary from local law enforcement and emergency response personnel. Everything else is subordinate to the goal of assuring the safety of the people in the building.

Principles for Crisis Response

Practical Information on Crisis Planning, a Guide for Schools and Communities from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools (January, 2007) details certain decisions and actions should form the core of every crisis response.

• Expect to be surprised. Regardless of how much time and effort was spent on crisis planning, the members of the crisis team should know that there will always be an element of surprise and accompanying confusion when a school is confronted with a crisis.

• Assess the situation and choose the appropriate response. Following the plan requires a very quick but careful assessment of the situation. Determine whether a crisis exists and if so, the type of crisis, the location, and the magnitude. Because the team has practiced the plan, leaders are ready to make these decisions. After basic protective steps are in place, more information can be gathered to adjust later responses.

• Respond within seconds. When a crisis actually happens, make the basic decisions about what type of action is needed and respond within seconds. An immediate, appropriate response depends on a plan with clearly articulated roles and responsibilities, as well as training and practice. With proper training, district and school staff and students will respond appropriately within seconds.

• Notify appropriate emergency responders and the school crisis response team. One common mistake is to delay calling emergency responders, such as the police or fire departments. In the midst of a crisis, people often believe that the situation can be handled in-house. It is better to have emergency responders on the scene as soon as possible, even if the incident has been resolved by the time they arrive, than to delay calling and risk further injury and damage. For instance, it is better to have emergency responders arrive at a school to find a fire put out than to arrive too late to prevent loss of life or serious property damage. Notifying a district’s or school’s crisis team allows them to begin the necessary measures to protect the safety of all persons involved. Unless informed otherwise by the incident commander, school crisis team members should proceed with their responsibilities.

• Evacuate or lock down the school as appropriate. This step is crucial and should be one of the first decisions made, regardless of the order in which initial decisions are implemented.

• Triage injuries and provide emergency first aid to those who need it. The plan should assign emergency medical services personnel and school staff with relevant qualifications to determine who needs emergency first aid. Designate a location for EMS to treat the seriously injured on the scene.

• Keep supplies nearby and organized at all times. If you move to another location, remember to take your supplies with you. Monitor the amount of supplies and replace them as needed.

• Trust leadership. Trust the internal crisis team members and external emergency responders who have been trained to deal with crises. Trust will help calm the situation and minimize the chaos that may occur during a crisis. During a crisis, leaders need to project a calm, confident, and serious attitude to assure people of the seriousness of the situation and the wisdom of the directions being given. This leadership style will help all involved to respond in a similarly calm and confident manner, as well as helping to mitigate the reactions of anyone who might deny that a crisis has occurred. In certain situations it may be necessary to yield leadership to others in the plan’s designated command structure.

•Communicate accurate and appropriate information. During a crisis, districts and schools will communicate with the school community as well as the community at large. Use the channels of communication identified in the plan. For instance, all information released to the media and public should be funneled through a single public information officer or appointed spokesperson. This will maximize the likelihood of presenting consistent and accurate information to the public. The crisis team should communicate regularly with staff who are managing students. A school’s most important responsibility, the safety of the students entrusted to the school by their families, cannot be fulfilled during a crisis without timely and accurate information to those caring for students. At a minimum, families need to know that a crisis has occurred and that all possible steps are being taken to see to the safety of their children. Additional details about assembly and shelter procedures may also be provided, as determined by the plan or those managing the crisis. At some point, families will also need to know when and where their children will be released.

•Activate the student release system. Always keep in mind that the earliest possible safe release of students is a desired goal. Often student release will be accomplished before complete resolution of a crisis.

•Allow for flexibility in implementing the crisis plan. It is impossible for any crisis plan, no matter how complete, to address every situation that may arise during a crisis. With proper training and practice, emergency responders and staff will be able to respond appropriately and to adapt the school crisis plans to the situation.

•Documentation. Write down every action taken during the response. This will provide a record of appropriate implementation of the crisis plan. Also necessary is recording damage for insurance purposes and tracking financial expenditures related to the incident. Keep all original notes and records. These are legal documents.

Intervening During a Crisis To Ensure Safety

According to the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), core principles should be found in any plan to help ensure student safety during a school crisis. (Resources for Teachers and Kids, FEMA for Kids, http://www.fema.gov/kids/safes6.htm).

“Weapons used in or around schools, bomb threats or explosions, and fights, as well as natural disasters, accidents, and suicides call for immediate, planned action, and long-term, post-crisis intervention. Planning for such contingencies reduces chaos and trauma. Thus, the crisis response part of the plan also must include contingency provisions. Such provisions may include:

• Evacuation procedures and other procedures to protect students and staff from harm. It is critical that schools identify safe areas where students and staff should go in a crisis. It also is important that schools practice having staff and students evacuate the premises in an orderly manner.

• An effective, fool-proof communication system. Individuals must have designated roles and responsibilities to prevent confusion.

• A process for securing immediate external support from law enforcement officials and other relevant community agencies.

Crisis Resources

The State of California recommends that all schools maintain a Crisis Response Box, “a guide to help every school assemble the tools and resources needed for a critical incident response.” (http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/cp/documents/crisisrespbox.pdf). This box contains the school’s crisis plan and all of the information and resources necessary for school personnel and outside agencies (e.g., police, fire, rescue) to assist with a critical incident at a school. While described as a “box” in order to emphasize the necessity for keeping all of the information in a centralized, easily accessible place, it is actually a very comprehensive and frequently updated response resource for everyone involved in crisis management.

The central message in this publication is that schools are generally large, complex facilities that are not familiar to the individuals who may respond in a crisis. The contents were developed through extensive study of school crises and interviews with school administrators and community safety officials who have had to confront a serious crisis in their schools. In essence, it answers the questions:

• “Knowing what you know today, what information would you have liked to have had to help you better manage the crisis?”

• ∑From your experience, what information should school administrators and police officials have at their finger tips in a crisis?”

Some of the resources are assembled and reviewed on a periodic basis – every quarter, semester or year. This includes site and building plans, student schedules, student photos, building maintenance and utility controls (e.g., alarm, water, electrical, closed-circuit TV controls), and other relatively “fixed” information. Others must be updated every day, such as student attendance rosters, staff attendance information or special events that may bring large groups of students together or take students off of their normal schedules.

In order for this crisis resource to be most useful, all school staff should know of its whereabouts and contents, and should be prepared to assist crisis responders as directed. In many schools, the staff is divided into specific groups, each with an assigned function for which they have been trained and rehearsed.

A Final Note

No one likes to imagine a crisis in a school that might jeopardize the safety and well-being of our young people and the adults who work with them. And, fortunately, despite the horrible images that play across our TV screens, schools are remarkably safe places. However, it is just that history of tranquility that may thwart serious and systematic planning by school leaders. “It can’t happen here” is still alive and well in many schools and communities, and it often takes courageous leadership to launch planning and mitigation efforts in schools that appear to be calm and peaceful. Only through such planning can the myth of “it’ can’t happen here” be properly dispelled so that our children are safe in fact as well as in our cherished imaginations.

Resources

•Practical Information on Crisis Planning
http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/crisisplanning.html

This brochure is designed to assist schools and communities as they prepare a crisis plan or review their existing plans. Although every school's needs and circumstances are different, these checklists provide general guidance that can be adapted as appropriate to each district's or school's circumstances. For the complete guide, download http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/emergencyplan/crisisplanning.pdf

•Center Quick Training Aid: School Based Crisis Intervention. http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/quicktraining/schoolbasedcrisisinterv.pdf

A comprehensive aid for supportive intervention following a school crisis from the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools.

•Teacher Guidelines for Crisis Response
http://www.schoolcrisisresponse.com/teacherguidelines.pdf

Reprinted from A Practical Guide to Crisis Response in Our Schools, this chapter offers detailed information about how children and adolescents are likely to respond to a crisis and what teachers can do to mitigate the effects of a school crisis on young people in their care. This chapter can be reproduced for dissemination to professional staff.

•Parent Guidelines for Crisis Response
http://www.schoolcrisisresponse.com/parentguidelines.pdf

Reprinted from A Practical Guide to Crisis Response in Our Schools, this section provides parents with information on what to expect from their child during and immediately following a school crisis and gives practical guidance for how to help children adjust to and recover from crisis events in their schools. This document may be reproduced for dissemination to parents.

•School Crisis Response Initiative
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/bulletins/schoolcrisis/ncj197832.pdf

This bulletin describes an organizational model for school preparedness and effective responses to crises. Developed by the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence at the Yale Child Study Center, the School Crisis Response Initiative promotes specific
training for school personnel as well as interested community members so they may respond more effectively to the needs of our children in the aftermath of a crisis.

•Crisis Response Box
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/cp/documents/crisisrespbox.pdf

The Crisis Response Box is a guide to assist schools in crisis planning and management. “The Box” is a unique product of the California Attorney General and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Safe Schools Task Force developed to help schools, local law enforcement, and emergency service personnel prepare for a school emergency. It is an excellent way to organize thinking and planning for school crises.

J. Howard Johnston, Ph. D.
Department of Secondary Education, University of South Florida
Tampa, Florida

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