What should you do in an emergency? - Fine Point Communications

The unending plague of shootings at schools and universities is deeply unsettling for any school employee to think about.

Among the internal questions that arise: How would one respond in the moment to a true emergency? Would “run, hide, fight” come to mind, or would another instinct take over?

Training can help prepare people. However, fire drills are often the only emergency training that schools undertake, since most jurisdictions require them by law. Instilling a learned response to other crises is not required and, as a result, tends to be far more ad hoc.

Another way to help is giving people more information ahead of time, and this is an area where communications can assist.

For example, immediate, must-do instruction in certain emergency situations could be summarized in a brief document, one that hangs in classrooms, hallways and offices for use as a “grab-and-go” when needed. And, of course, every institution needs a complete emergency management plan that leaders would reach for when needed.

At many schools, such planning is the purview of a crisis team, made up of senior administrators who meet regularly. If communications is not represented on this team, discuss with your head of school the prospect of touching base with team leaders. If this is agreeable, sit down with the leaders to discuss emergency communications.

Developing a grab-and-go is a good first project to pursue together because it calls on the team to distill a thick plan document into, at most, a handful of half-sheets. Priorities would become clearer and language simplified.

I recommend using such a publication to address the most common or critical scenarios:

Fire;
Armed intruder/lockdown;
Severe weather/shelter-in-place;
Medical emergency; and
Chemical exposure/evacuation.

Because institutional circumstances are unique, though, adjust this list as needed to address the situations that most worry your crisis team. Just remember: In a real emergency, no one will read more than bullet points. Keep the information short and directive.

Once the content is finished, print the grab-and-go (think about bright, eye-catching colors for the cover) and hang it everywhere. Err on the side of putting up too many, rather than too few. The sight may be jarring at first, but students, faculty and staff will quickly come to see it as just another decoration. Until it becomes essential.

Through work with the crisis team, you’ll find other situations that would benefit from a communications perspective. For example, your school probably urges faculty and staff, “If you see something, say something.” That charge becomes easier for employees to fulfill by giving them, say, a wallet-size card with cell phone numbers for school leaders. Another project might be publishing checklists to assist the school’s first responders through certain scenarios.

Schools have many, many opportunities to improve emergency preparedness, and communications is central to any crisis response. The sooner your office begins working closely with the people who will lead that response, the better for the institution.

One final point: Any conversation about security and emergency response can make people nervous and uncomfortable, and talking about such sensitive information with outsiders is even harder. Gleaning best practices from your peer schools, then, may be too much to ask.

If your crisis team believes a broader perspective would help spotlight what’s being overlooked, you will likely find better results by bringing in a consultant (ahem) than by calling other schools.

Developing crisis materials can be challenging work. But the great gift you are providing to your school is helping everyone prepare for the day that no one wants to arrive. A little bit of foresight pays huge dividends when confronted with something unanticipated.

Don’t-miss clicks

In 2021, Refill proposed a few steps for independent schools to stay connected with their neighbors. In that context, here is a cautionary tale about the bad feeling that can develop and fester when schools ignore this relationship. (After digging into the backstory, I can tell you that Axios actually played down some of the ill will.) Some of this is unique to Washington, D.C., where community activists have an unusual level of oversight authority. The overall advice still stands, though: Keep in touch with the neighbors, if only to ensure that a minor annoyance doesn’t blow up into a much bigger headache.
It’s a treat to come across a good-news story involving an independent school, so be sure to read this piece from Honolulu’s Civil Beat about a private-public partnership involving Punahou School. The Davis Democracy Initiative aims to get young people more interested and invested in their government.