Public Relations and Crisis Management

1
Public Relations and Crisis Management

• EDUG 543

2
Crisis Plan Contents

• Statement of the reasons for the plan
• Types of Crises covered in plan with checklists
  for responding to each one
• Procedures 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

3
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

4
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

5
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

6
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

7
Communicated Crisis Plans

• Central Office
• Training sessions with all employees and local
  authorities
• Training and understanding by the Board
• Including the Boards 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 cds and floppies
• Administrative team and principals should have a
  copy in their cars

8
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

9
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

10
When Violence Occurs

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

11
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

12
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

13
When Violence Occurs cont.

• Set up a phone bank where people can call for
  information
• Alert the media of this phone banks number(s)
• Prepare backpack letters to parents
• Begin action to address copycat incidents
• Establish command center for Red Cross
• Schedule multi agency meetings
• Establish a single(w/backup) computer file for
  all statements, documents and releases
• Hold regular briefings
• Delay personal grieving process
• Remember to eat and sleep

14
Working with the MediaInitial Statements

• Initial statements (Dos)
• 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

15
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

16
Working with the MediaInitial Statements

• Initial statements (Donts)
• 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