• Establish or identify a crisis response team. Members should include principals, assistant principals, faculty members, custodians, school nurses, school mental health providers, security officers, transportation heads (lead bus drivers), and others who would play key roles in a crisis.

• Review any existing crisis response plan. Determine if it is up to date and comprehensive. For example, does it cover a variety of school crises, such as school shootings, suicides, and major accidents, as well as broader crises such as the 9/11 events? Does it have a procedure for notifying parents about where to go to get information on their children in the event of an emergency? Plans should also address school policies on possession of cell phones, bioterrorism hoaxes, hate crimes, and threats against schools, students, and faculty.

• Find out whether the policy is being used and is familiar to staff, including teachers and parents.

• If a crisis plan does not exist, make the case for developing one. Cite research about the effect of a crisis environment on student achievement and guidelines from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Secret Service.

• Get on the crisis response planning team.

• Find out how the school has responded to crises in the past.

• Ask key players in the school about what worked and what did not work.

• Bring questions about the plan to the table. Who is responsible for implementing the different parts of the plan? Is there a plan to assess for trauma in students? Offer resources that can help others do their job.

• Make sure that the school crisis response plan is developed with input and support from a variety of public and private agencies representing law enforcement, fire departments, emergency services, victim services, and agencies responsible for homeland security. Whether schools are reviewing an existing plan or developing a new one, they should include agencies with relevant expertise that may not have routinely partnered with schools.

• Reach out to other agencies that are involved in responding to crises, such as local law enforcement and fire departments, state, county, and local emergency preparedness agencies, and the National Guard, to ensure that they are part of any community preparedness drills. Make sure that the school safety plan coordinates with the Incident Command System, a nationally recognized system used by law enforcement, fire departments, etc. to prepare for and respond to all types of crises. School district officials should work closely with law enforcement officials and other emergency service agencies to ensure that clear lines of authority are established and well-known.

• Practice elements of the crisis response plan, such as evacuations, on a regularly scheduled basis. These practices can be woven into other safety drills (such as fire drills) that schools are required to conduct. Practice does not always mean drills. It can include table-top exercises (simulations of different types of crises and how to respond that can be discussed around a table) and other events that do not tie up school time.

References

Kramen, A.J., Massey, K.R., & Timm, H.W. (1999) Guide for Prevention and Responding to School Violence. Alexandria, VA: International Association of Chiefs of Police.

U.S. Department of Education, (2002), Letter from U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige to Chief School Safety Officers.