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Responses for different types of crises should be planned in advance and reviewed, updated, and practiced periodically. The chaos and panic created by these situations cannot be effectively handled without a pre-established specific plan of action.

Teachers and staff play critical roles in implementing planned responses both before and after emergency response personnel arrive. Therefore, their participation in and understanding of the planning is essential.

A. The Role of School Administrators, Teachers, and Staff

1. Planning

a. Establish a Crisis Planning Team that includes representation from faculty and staff, as well as safety, security, and emergency response providers who are knowledgeable about crisis planning and/or would help intervene in a school safety crisis. The primary duty of these teams is to develop and periodically refine crisis management plans.

b. Establish School Crisis Management Teams at district and site levels utilizing the nationally recognized Incident Command System (ICS). The ICS provides a comprehensive organizational structure, role assignment, and decision-making process to prepare for and respond to all types of crises. Schools should contact emergency management agencies (e.g., fire departments) for information about ICS. ISC-related information is also available on web sites in Section 10.

c. Have a working knowledge of all available and needed resources for handling and responding to a crisis situation. During planning, utilize school personnel to determine resources available within the building and the district. Utilize emergency response personnel from the community to help determine availability of resources within the community.

d. Include off-site school activities such as stadium events, field trips, etc. in crisis planning.

e. Assign all faculty and staff to clearly defined roles under the ICS system. Critical assignments must be staffed three deep to assure coverage at all times.

f. Identify and make pre-incident arrangements with the counselors who would provide the Critical Incident Stress Debriefing immediately following a crisis.

g. Identify and train on-site building maintenance staff (primary and backup) and off-site personnel who will take responsibility for dealing with fire alarms, sprinkler systems, gas, etc. These personnel should immediately be available at the command post.

h. Identify personnel who will have master keys, codes, and access to secured areas at the site.

i. Establish and publicize the chain of command so that if the appointed crisis director as specific in the ICS is unavailable, the next designated Crisis Management Team member will take charge.

j. Establish and practice how to protect students with physical or developmental disabilities.

k. Prepare a dismissal plan in the event students need to be sent home early. Establish procedures for notifying parents/guardians and media. Make arrangements for transportation of special needs students.

l. Establish and practice lockdown and evacuation procedures, including where students should go during different types of crises. Consider various/adverse weather conditions and ways to transport evacuees. In the event of evacuation, predetermine specific locations of safe havens for students to gather a safe distance away from the school. Publicize locations to students, parents, school teachers and staff, crisis team members, and emergency response personnel.

m. Develop an emergency traffic plan capable of protecting emergency response routes and accommodating the likely traffic and parking needs of parents/guardians and media.

n. Pre-designate places, depending on the nature of the crisis, for personnel to perform their roles. Places include:

• A designated media contact location.

• A designated place for parents/guardians to congregate.

• A designated place for clergy.

• Staging areas for transportation, etc.

o. Establish a "Calling Tree" or "Phone Tree" which allows the Crisis Management Team to be notified immediately. Post Calling Tree lists in strategic locations, such as superintendents', principals', assistant principals', nursing, counseling,custodians', crisis team representatives', and school department offices; as well as at local police department, school district, and other designated off-site locations.

p. Make alternative response plans known to key personnel who would communicate the nature of the crisis and the appropriate level of response. Information about some aspects of response plans may need to be restricted as a security measure.

q. Create crisis and evacuation kits and place them at strategic locations inside and outside of schools. For a list of items to include in crisis kits and types of places to locate them, refer below.

r. Consider utilizing digital technology and computer databases to store photographs and demographic information that would enable easy and accurate identification of students, teachers, and staff. Always have hardcopy versions in the event computers are inaccessible.

s. Provide copies of all emergency and evacuation plans to local law enforcement, fire, and other emergency response agencies. t. Provide law enforcement, fire, and other emergency response personnel with blueprints, layouts and floor plans of school buildings and grounds, including information about main leads for water, gas, electricity, cable, telephone, HVAC, alarm and sprinkler systems, and locations of hazardous materials, elevators, and entrances. These should be reviewed annually and include both officials' and students' names for each location on the property. Schedule walkthroughs by emergency responders, including city public works personnel. Consider color coding interiors of buildings and numbering doors to assist responders.

u. Consider creating a system of "knox boxes" outside school buildings. Knoxboxes are storage devices that provide staff and emergency response personnel with access to keys at any time of the day or night.

2. Planning for Donations and Memorials

a. Establish a school policy for memorializing students and other school personnel. For types of considerations, see "Memorials, Funerals, and Anniversaries" in Section 6, After a Crisis.

b. Designate responsibility for coordinating receipt and distribution of donations in the event of a crisis. Ensure proper accountability and receipt of funds/materials, etc. Designate types of donations (e.g., clothes, money, etc.). Consider utilizing United Way or another charitable organization already in place.

c. Identify how media and community members will be informed of where donations should be sent.

d. Establish priorities and policies for distributing monetary donations.

e. Prepare in advance a link for donations on the school's web site.

3. Training

a. Test crisis management plans with faculty and staff, and if appropriate with selected students, at the beginning of each school year and/or during in-service days throughout the year. Law enforcement and emergency service agencies in the community should be included.

b. Coordinate and regularly hold scenario-based training sessions that bring together law enforcement, other emergency response personnel, school teachers, and other school staff.

c. Train teachers and staff on the types of information that emergency response personnel will need to respond to different types of crises, such as when the event occurred, where it happened, how many are involved, whether lockdown or evacuation has occurred, etc.

d. Consider using local emergency response personnel or district-wide crisis teams to provide training.

e. To the extent possible, provide cross-training to members of the Crisis Management Team and to other school personnel.

f. Review the crisis response plan with teachers, principals, staff, volunteers, campus supervisors, and school resource officers.

g. Review the crisis response plan with students.

h. Provide training to teachers and school staff on their assigned, and if applicable, back-up roles during crisis situations.

i. Supplement verbal training with a written pamphlet to remind students, as well as full-time, part-time, intern, and substitute teachers of their specified roles.

j. On an on-going basis, provide training to staff; volunteers; full-time, part-time, intern, and substitute teachers; and other persons who are regularly on campus regarding how to respond to different types of crisis scenarios.

k. Develop written summaries of crisis response instructions to be disseminated to new substitutes along with their specific classroom materials.

l. Provide information to parents/ guardians on their roles during crisis situations. Also inform them where they should go to meet with the designated spokespersons, where to retrieve their children and get information about the status of the crisis, and what they can do to help during and after the crisis.

m. Decide on an appropriate balance of crisis response information and crisis response drills for students that leaves them feeling safe without causing undue fear.

n. Provide training in media relations for appointed media spokespersons during the planning phase. Invite media representatives to those training sessions to strengthen relationships and enhance understanding of their respective needs.

o. Provide information to local media representatives on how to receive and communicate information about crises to the community.

p. Teach students, teachers, and staff to recognize the physiological cues experienced in crisis situations. Rehearse constructive skills and behaviors instead of relying on impulsive actions during crisis situations.

q. Provide emergency first-aid training to teachers, staff, and students.

r. Provide staff, teachers, and students with instructions on personal safety awareness and survival skills, on how to report and respond to persons making threats or displaying weapons, and about locating and not giving up safe positions.

s. Incorporate crisis preparation training and requirements into teacher education programs at colleges and universities.

B. The Role of Law Enforcement and Emergency Response Personnel

1. Conduct meetings with representatives from the school community and from all local law enforcement, fire, and other emergency response agencies to obtain, develop, and coordinate school site safety plans.

2. Maintain information in vehicles of first responders about school sites' layouts, building floor plans, and aerial maps. Update as needed.

3. Create systems by which students, teachers, and/or staff hearing commands (e.g., "Open the door") may be better able to identify that they came from official law enforcement or school personnel, instead of from offenders. Consider the possibility that the offenders could be students, faculty, or staff when designing and communicating details about those systems to school personnel.

4. Work toward integrating disparate law enforcement and emergency response communication technologies to enable more effective communication between agencies during crises.

5. Develop and provide training on the Incident Command System, which coordinates supervision and direction of different school authorities, law enforcement personnel, and emergency responders from a central command post.
 

 

Critical Incident Stress Debriefing

Following a serious act of violence in the schools, employees, counselors, students, police and other emergency responders, witnesses, and the families of each often suffer from stress-related ailments such as insomnia, depression, anger, headaches and ulcers. These conditions translate into higher rates of absenteeism and turnover, as well as lower school and job performance. Much of this suffering and loss can be reduced if the affected individuals receive debriefings from experienced counselors 24 to 72 hours after the traumatic incident.

The purpose of such a debriefing is to provide students, school employees, and others affected by the event with the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings about what happened and how it was handled. It also gives the debriefing team a chance to educate employees about the symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and to identify individuals who might need further counseling.

Depending on their developmental level, children have different coping skills for dealing with traumatic events and memories of them. Counseling interventions for younger children often require involvement and use of nonverbal material and/or very directive ways to elicit and reflect feelings. Frequently, facts and fantasy are intermingled, and young children have a difficult time acknowledging a crisis. With adolescents, however, a discussion format can be used as a possible means to activate and enhance their problem-solving and crisis-coping skills.
 

 

Crisis and Evacuation Kits

The following items should be gathered together and located at strategic locations inside and outside of schools. Common locations include principals’ offices, local fire and police depart-ments, police car trunks, and specially designated places in all areas of schools. Information in the crisis kits should be updated periodically as appropriate.

• Name tags.

• Notebooks.

• Pens & markers.

• Hand radios.

• Batteries.

• First aid supplies.

• Tape.

• Blankets.

• Megaphone.

• Tools.

• Separate placards with directional words such as PARENTS, COUNSELORS, MEDIA, CLERGY, VOLUNTEERS, KEEP OUT.

• Caution tape.

• Copies of student records, especially health and identification.

• Attendance rosters.

• Bus rosters and routes.

• Emergency response telephone numbers.

• Student, teacher, and staff home phone numbers and emergency contacts.

• Telephone directory for school system.

• List of teachers with cell phones and their cell phone numbers.

• Current yearbook, class photos, student IDs, or if available, CD-ROM photo databases. (CD-ROM databases can be done by END Youth Violence by calling (604) 830-2242

• Schedules of students, teachers, and staff available.

• School sites’ layouts, building floor plans, and aerial maps.

• A laptop computer, printer, and access to a copier are required for immediate use.