How to Develop a School's Emergency Response Communications Plan

Rising levels of school violence have increased awareness about emergency preparation. It is essential that schools prepare for a crisis situation long before it occurs. According to the U.S. Department of Education, schools must develop an emergency response communications plan to readily deal with disasters, extreme weather and other catastrophic events as they happen.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Building liaisons and plan administrators
• Maps of school grounds
• Emergency contact names and phone numbers

1. Write a communications plan for your school district that includes details on how to reach internal and external networks, such as members of the community or parents. The document should also highlight a plan "B" in case of power outages, computer failures or other communication hindrances.
2. Develop an effective crisis communications chain. This is a part of the overall communications plan. It should explore how to gather the facts and deal with the media in a crisis.
3. Break down your emergency response plan to actionable steps for the different school departments. This model should be adhered to by each school's administrator.
4. Create a step in the crisis communications plan for practice. Each department or building location needs to have a liaison to head up the safety drills. Measure your progress by conducting frequent practice sessions.
5. Make practice drills building-specific, but have the same goals as the overall emergency response plan.
6. Direct staff to contact emergency personnel. Members of the school's team should be taught how, when and who to contact in the event of an emergency.
7. Read up on different ways to develop a school's emergency communications plan at the U.S. Department of Education website (see Resources below). You can check for legislation requirements and if you qualify for available funding.

Tips & Warnings

• Before developing a school's emergency response plan, meet with your school board or appropriate line of management. Usually a district has a school and community relations department or assigns a person to write the plan. Others have a Health and Safety Officer who develops the emergency response communications.
• Your plan should involve first responder agencies such as the police, fire and emergency medical teams. Each of these agencies should be given copies of the school's crisis plans, along with contact information and a layout/map of each building.