Blindsided is the authoritative guide to crisis management. This "how to" handbook gives essential advice that every manager needs to know when a crisis hits. Written by CMI Founder/CEO Bruce Blythe, it's a fascinating, easy-to-read guide that draws on Blythe's 20+ years of experience as a pioneer in crisis management.

  Creating Your School's Crisis Management Team
by by Bruce T. Blythe



Schools are unique and cherished institutions in America; yet, they are vulnerable to an array of risks and hazards. The rate of school violence continues to attract increasing concern. Although there are no easy answers or instant solutions, our school systems shelter and educate our most precious assets, our children. Aren't our children worthy of our best efforts at crisis preparation, readiness, and response?

Foreseeable Risk Analysis
In order to effectively implement a crisis response system into your school, the system must be designed specific to the school's characteristics. An important element of any violence preparedness plan involves a comprehensive analysis of the kinds of threats the school district is likely to experience, given its geographical location, student constituency, previous history and other factors. By completing this examination of your school, you prepare for the possibilities.

Crisis Management Team
This evaluation of your school's foreseeable risks should be completed by a group of individuals willing to dedicate their time and energy as members of a Crisis Management Team (CMT).

The CMT should include persons with immediate decision-making ability and authority. Two basic positions on the team are the team leader and the team scribe. Auxiliary team members, identified by administration, can be selected from inside or outside the school system and should provide expertise from appropriate disciplines. Multidisciplinary representation is best, including members with legal, security, mental health, administrative and public relations backgrounds.

The most effective CMT members have the following characteristics:

• Represent a diverse staff of various functions
• Are trained and interested in retaining their skill level
• Are available to respond quickly and delegate other responsibilities as needed
• Work well together as a team
• Place their highest priority on (giving and receiving) excellent communications

The best crisis management is more proactive than reactive. Now is the time to prepare, not when potential violence is imminent or has already happened. Play the "What if . . ." game and prepare for situations that might occur tomorrow. What would you do?

March 24, 1998: Jonesboro, Arkansas. Authorities searched today for a reason why 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson and 11-year-old Andrew Golden, opened fire on classmates at Westside Middle School killing four young girls, one teacher and wounding ten others. "It was like a war zone. There were people running around, screaming, crying. I went numb and really didn't know what to do. I had zero training in how to deal with something like this." [Grover Cooper, Superintendent of Westside Consolidated School District Jonesboro, Arkansas]

Although the CMT plays a central and primary role in crisis response, its ongoing role is to identify and utilize resources to assist in preventing or mitigating risks to the school. Resources are invaluable to provide suggestions on courses of action to follow and considerations that you and your chosen CMT will want to keep in mind when dealing with threatening situations.

Training
Training is necessary for everyone involved in the CMT, as well as the administration and staff. The training should inform the staff of the various procedures and programs necessary to implement the crisis response plans. Training is an ongoing process and can be creatively organized to maintain the interest of the participants. Some training formats include simulations created for role-playing, interactive computer programs for CMT members, Internet-based training.

Crisis Manual
Although there is no replacement for good judgment and common sense, a roadmap for decisions, actions and documentation is the right step to ensure confident, quick response. An effective crisis response manual is a vital component of the school's plan. The primary users of the manual will likely be-although not limited to-the designated CMT at each school site. This team will drive the school's crisis response by initiating key procedures, communications and contingency plans in response to the specific incident. The manual should include detailed instructions for immediate actions under clearly marked tabs, such as Missing Student, Shooting, Food Borne Illness, etc.

A full range of crisis recovery is necessary. These procedures will instruct team members on immediate, short-range and ongoing issues to facilitate recovery and address the concerns of the parents, media, student body, school staff, and others.

December 1, 1997: West Paducah, Kentucky. A 14-year-old boy, Michael Carneal, opened fire on a student prayer circle at Heath High School, killing three and wounding five. "West Paducah's crisis manual has expanded from a 10-page book aimed at handling natural disasters to a "phone book-sized" manual that includes a quick-reference chart to place beside the standard fire exit plan." [George Hanrahan, Assistant Superintendent of West Paducah, Kentucky]

Lastly, a variety of emergency contact numbers, notification lists, unique considerations, letter samples, evacuation procedures and other school-specific information is to be included to customize each school's ability to respond to crises in an effective, efficient manner.

CRISIS PREPAREDNESS QUESTION

"If our crisis hits the headlines, how comfortable are we in defending our planning and actions?"

COMMON RESPONSE PROBLEMS

Authority When a crisis occurs, some administrators make decisions they should not make. For example, a staff member authorizes pictures to be taken of an incident scene before involving legal counsel. Meanwhile, other administrators may not assume the authority to make decisions that need immediate action (e.g. not assigning a school representative to the family of a critically injured student).

Administrators and staff members involved in crisis response should know the parameters of their decision-making authority. Each level of empowerment should be agreed on internally and documented in the school crisis plan so clear lines of authority will be in place during a critical incident.

Benefit: Decisions that need to be made will be implemented in a manner that accelerates crisis recovery. Common turf battles and conflicting decisions will be minimized to assure optimal crisis management response.

Communication
In the heat of a crisis, vital information must flow efficiently to and from the CMT. Often, there are misunderstandings about who needs notification and what needs to be communicated and when. Communication expectations between all levels of involved administration should be clearly defined. Communications to and from each involved position should be planned according to each of the risks identified for the school.

Benefit: During a crisis, appropriate school personnel will give and receive vital information when they want it and with the content they need.

Expectations
School administrators, public relations staff, legal, law enforcement personnel and others have expectations of how school CMTs should respond during various crises. Typically, however, these expectations are not clearly identified or communicated.

Benefit: Expectations are defined and available for reference, allowing a coordinated team response among involved disciplines.

Your school may suffer an unplanned and unprecedented trauma, death, injury, or other tragedy. Doing the right thing following critical incidents and preparing an effective crisis response system is a major and necessary task that deserves your best effort.

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