1. Crisis Management By Michelle Wallace VCU EDU 708
Be ALERT! BE prepared for the unexpected and the unknown. To attack this issue, organizations should have an effective crisis management plan. Crises can be like the domino effect. Your actions can either make the dominos stop or continue to spiral out of control.
By Michelle Wallace
VCU
EDU 708

2. Stay CALM! When faced with any crisis, it is imperative that leaders not panic. In a school system, the leaders include the principal, assistant principal, nurses, guidance counselors, teachers and support personnel such as custodians and cafeteria staff. Each of these people have a role in an effective crisis management plan.

3. In Nottoway, the crisis management plan was INSPIRED by the state guidelines set by the Code of Virginia. The policy includes a prevention plan, a response plan, and a crisis communication plan. The prevention plan helps to raise student and staff awareness about school safety while identifying potential safety concerns and community resources to keep the schools safe.

4. The crisis response plan ensures that school divisions have defined essential procedures, operations, and assignments required to prevent, manage and respond to critical events and emergencies. The response guide helps leaders to EMBRACE the concept of safe procedures for promising outcomes. A crisis management plan MUST become part of the school culture for it to be effectively implemented in the event of a real crisis.

5. A telephone network is utilized to ASSURE staff that effective communication will be followed during a crisis. This network is to be updated annually as personnel changes impact the network. This telephone network has been implemented in the past in response to an unexpected student death, a suicide, the death of a teacher and a student runaway from school.

6. This secondary list of numbers is kept at the school board office
This secondary list of numbers is kept at the school board office. Although not part of the division crisis plan, this list is used for individual school emergencies for communication with school board members and various division leaders. It has been used in the past for bomb threats at schools, student accidents, in cases where the ambulance has been called to a school, and other school emergencies. A simple list like this can be used to CALM others in a crisis because they are not fumbling for numbers to contact during the emergency.

7. In response to a recent suicide and also to help REASSURE parents that we take bullying and other student issues seriously, the division instituted a web based Tipline. This anonymous tip line can be used by students via the internet or through cell phone text messaging. This tip line is monitored by principals and division staff and also by an outside agency in the case of emergencies.

8. As a result of school safety audits, First Aide Guides are posted prominently in schools and in other division buildings. In an emergency, people tend to EXCITE easily. These guides can serve to calm excited bystanders and to refocus their energies and deal with the emergency.

9. One of the first alert systems put into place at the school board office was the caller identification and phone recording capability. At the time when this was done, there had been prank phone calls and THREATS over the phone made to the superintendent.

10. Although schools go through safety audit each year, the school board office had never had an audit until two years ago. This occurred after several incidents where the school board employees felt threatened. One person came in off the street and walked straight past the receptionist and into the office of the superintendent’s secretary.

11. As a result of the safety audit at the school board office, signs and locks were installed to DIVERT visitors from the entering one of the three side entries. Before the signs, people visiting the office would enter in through these doors and no one would even know they were in the building. Now, these doors remained locked all the time.

12. Another addition was a solid glass at the receptionist’s window with a small hole for passing paper work through. The previous window was a sliding glass which could be easily opened by guests. The glass may not WIN OVER our guests, but it serves to protect our employees.

13. FORGIVE the glass welcome into the building, but it is for the safety of the employees from within. These doors serve to keep the reception area separate from the rest of the building. They prevent visitors from walking through the front doors past the receptionist, they prevent sensitive conversations from being overheard, and they have even been used to calm angry parents as they wait outside the doors during student hearings.

14. Keypad Entry Alarm System
To get through the doors, the receptionist must buzz the visitors in or employees can use a code on the keypad. You will also notice the alarm system. This was just installed within the last year after a burglary at the school board office. Now police will be ALERTED if someone comes into the office after hours and does not know the code!

15. Another recommendation made by the safety committee was the installation of a fire alert system. Also shown in this picture is the motion sensor and the smoke detector. Committee members did not have to IMPLORE division leaders that these were necessities. These were installed very soon after the safety audit recommendations were approved.

16. SHAME was in our eyes during the recent safety audit when it was discovered that the only fire extinguisher was kept in the men’s bathroom cabinet and it had to be at least 20 years old. This new fire extinguisher and sign were installed immediately after the safety audit.

17. I CHALLENGE you for figure out the obvious fault with this picture
I CHALLENGE you for figure out the obvious fault with this picture. Notice the monthly inspection record… notice how many times the fire extinguisher has been inspected. Where schools get monthly inspections of their equipment and fire drill systems, the school board office has been overlooked. This is an area of needed improvement for the school board office.

18. Much like the fire extinguisher has not been checked monthly, neither has the fire alert system. Perhaps I could ENLIVEN the office staff by pulling the fire alarm one day. Evacuation procedures are not in place and responsibilities are not mapped out in the event that this alarm were needed.

19. As part of any good crisis management plan, even in your own home, one should be prepared with a Crisis Management Kit. When I asked where the kit was for the school board office, I was DAZZLED by strange looks and questioning remarks. The kit should contain items similar to those shown in the picture as well as a list of employees and medical alert information for each staff member in the building.

20. Finally, it is important to complete practice drills for crisis which are likely to occur. This is another area for improvement needed at the School Board office. No one wants a crisis to actually occur, but we must be prepared if one does occur. Being prepared helps to REASSURE everyone when an actual crisis does happen.