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Public Relations and Crisis Management

EDUG 543

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Crisis Plan Contents

Statement of the reasons for the planTypes of Crises covered in plan with

checklists for responding to each oneProcedures common to all crises

• Making sure students are safe• Contacting law enforcement, fire, rescue…• Informing central office and referring them to the crisis

plan• Direct informational requests to district spokesperson• Set up media operations• Alerting the crisis counseling team

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Crisis Plan Contents

Emergency telephone numbers• Include lists of where to contact key individuals

– Include alternate numbers

Detailed maps of each school facility• Include all entrances and exits• Include all rooms with all commonly used labels

indicated so emergency squads can respond quickly and tactically

– E.g. Cafeteria, multipurpose room, and stage may all mean the same general areas

• Include all utility shutoffs and entry points for buildings

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Crisis Plan Contents

Procedural information• Guidelines for locking down the school and evacuating

the school• Identify crises types and levels of response

– E.g. Code 1• Crisis is handled at local school level

– Code 2• Crisis will require additional help(including law authorities) but

can be handled by school district authorities

– Code 3• Crisis requires community response including law and medical

authorities

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Crisis Plan Contents

Guidelines for effective communication with staff, community and media

Sample “backpack letters”• Quickly tailored and adapted for a given crisis and sent

home with children

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Crisis Plan Special Considerations

• Have adequate numbers of cell phones that are charged and ready for operations

• Have staff and student directories including subs• Have attendance records available both inside and

outside the building• Close-by off-site locations for evacuation of schools

– Transportation if necessary

• Location for media camp• Clarity in who will handle special events

– E.g. Governor or president

• Membership and leadership of crisis management teams

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Communicated Crisis Plans

Central Office– Training sessions with all employees and local authorities– Training and understanding by the Board

• Including the Board’s role in a crisis– E.g avoid the Alexander Haig mentality

– Involve key parents and community members in cursory training and make sure all parents know that a plan is in place and the staff has been trained

– Have complete and abbreviated copies of the plan at all school and emergency locations

• Use secured web sites and/or cd’s and floppies

• Administrative team and principals should have a copy in their cars

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Common Types of Crises

– Accidents/injuries– Armed attack– Bomb threat– Child abuse/neglect/sexual assault– Communicable disease– Death of student(s) and or staff– Demonstrations– Fire– Gas/chemical/nuclear leak or spill– Tornado…– Vandalism/property loss, theft

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Where Violence Occurs

Most violence occurs outside the class room in areas of lesser supervision levels

• Hallways, cafeterias,bathrooms, locker rooms, libraries and school grounds

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When Violence Occurs

Report the incident to law enforcement– Avoid the fear of not calling to avoid harming the

school’s reputation• Not calling will do the greatest harm

Get as many facts as possible– Avoid reporting rumors

Verify the crisis plan is being followed by other [personnel

Make sure the central office and superintendent has been informed

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When Violence Occurs cont.

Go to the scene– Meet immediately with the top supervisor on the scene and

law enforcement official in charge of the control center• Determine what decisions have already• Determine the dimensions of the crisis

Support law2 enforcement by controlling access to the scene by the public and the media

Make sure crisis intervention team members have been alerted– Employ them immediately to assist students, staff and

parents– Determine and make decisions which have not already

been made• E.g. Where children can be picked up

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When Violence Occurs cont.

Dispatch individuals to help at the emergency site and evacuation centers

Dispatch employees to assist at hospital or morgue

Inform the media of where it should locate and where and when briefing sessions will be held

• Make sure the media know who the official spokesperson is for the district

• Prepare and deliver an initial statement• Distribute fact sheets when possible

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When Violence Occurs cont.

Set up a phone bank where people can call for information– Alert the media of this phone bank’s number(s)

Prepare “backpack letters” to parentsBegin action to address copycat incidentsEstablish command center for Red Cross…

• Schedule multi agency meetings

Establish a single(w/backup) computer file for all statements, documents and releases

Hold regular briefingsDelay personal grieving process

– Remember to eat and sleep

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Working with the MediaInitial Statements Initial statements (Do’s)

• Deliver statement in the same place where following statements will be issued

– Location in crisis plan– Practice statement

• Keep sentences short and ideas clear• Keep initial statement brief• Objectively describe facts

• Report what people need to know, even if some of the media has already reported thee same

– Assume that no media coverage has occurred– Start from the beginning– Remember that mics pick up comments from a distance

• Ask yourself what you would want to hear if your child was involved

– Report the same

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Working with the MediaInitial Statements

– Report what you have done to keep students safe– Appeal to parents citizens and media to keep streets and

drive clear for emergency vehicles– Provide factual information about school

• Enrollment, general location, Name of of principal and other key individuals (with spellings)

– Remind media that the safety of students is your number one concern and decision are being made based solely on their safety.

– Indicate that an effort is being made to bring back normalcy ASAP

– Remind media that a crisis plan is in place and how it was communicated

– Avoid taking the role of law enforcement or health officials– Have an exit line and indicate the time and location of the

next meeting

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Working with the MediaInitial Statements Initial statements (Don’ts)

• Wing it• Speculate• Repeat hearsay• Lay blame• Lie• Make jokes• Ramble• Give opinions• Go off the record• Give out police investigation info• Medical opinion or advice• Guess about possible court outcomes• Say “no comment”• Use jargon• Give up control of the interview• Patronize a reporter• Start interview without an exit line in mind• Promise undeliverable information• Let your guard down• Face cameras without talking to your office for up-to-date info