**Practical Information on Crisis Planning:**

**A Guide for Schools and Communities**

U.S. Department of Education

August 2004

**Preparing Your School for a Crisis**

Taking action now can save lives, prevent injury, and minimize property
damage in the moments of a crisis. If you do not have a crisis plan in
place, it is time to develop one. If you have one, review, practice, and
update your plan. This brochure is designed to assist schools and
communities in either situation. Although every school's needs and
circumstances are different, these checklists provide general guidance
that can be adapted as appropriate to each district's or school's
circumstances.

If you would like additional, more detailed information on how to
prepare your school or district for a crisis, you can order a free copy
of *Practical Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide for Schools and
Communities*, from which these checklists have been taken, on the U.S.
Department of Education Office of Safe and Drug-Free School's emergency
preparedness Web site:
[www.ed.gov/emergencyplan](http://www.ed.gov/emergencyplan). This Web
site contains many other crisis planning resources as well.

# Additional Web Sites

-   [www.ed.gov/emergencyplan](http://www.ed.gov/emergencyplan)

-   <http://www.ready.gov/>

-   [www.fema.gov/kids/](http://www.fema.gov/kids/)

-   [www.redcross.org/services/disaster](http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster)

-   [www.nasponline.org](http://www.nasponline.org/)

# Mitigation and Prevention

The goal of mitigation is to decrease the need for response as opposed
to simply increasing response capability.

-   Connect with community emergency responders to identify local
    hazards.

-   Review the last safety audit to examine school buildings and
    grounds.

-   Determine who is responsible for overseeing violence prevention
    strategies in your school.

-   Encourage staff to provide input and feedback during the crisis
    planning process.

-   Review incident data.

-   Determine major problems in your school with regard to student crime
    and violence.

-   Assess how the school addresses these problems.

-   Conduct an assessment to determine how these problems---as well as
    others---may impact your vulnerability to certain crises.

# Preparedness

Good planning will facilitate a rapid, coordinated, effective response
when a crisis occurs.

-   Determine what crisis plans exist in the district, school, and
    community.

-   Identify all stakeholders involved in crisis planning.

-   Develop procedures for communicating with staff, students, families,
    and the media.

-   Establish procedures to account for students during a crisis.

-   Gather information about the school facility, such as maps and the
    location of utility shutoffs.

-   Identify the necessary equipment that needs to be assembled to
    assist staff in a crisis.

# Response

A crisis is the time to follow the crisis plan and make use of your
preparations.

-   Determine if a crisis is occurring.

-   Identify the type of crisis that is occurring and determine the
    appropriate response.

-   Activate the incident management system.

-   Ascertain whether an evacuation, reverse evacuation, lockdown, or
    shelter-in-place needs to be implemented.

-   Maintain communication among all relevant staff at officially
    designated locations.

-   Establish what information needs to be communicated to staff,
    students, families, and the community.

-   Monitor how emergency first aid is being administered to the
    injured.

-   Decide if more equipment and supplies are needed.

# Recovery

During recovery, return to learning and restore the infrastructure as
quickly as possible.

-   Strive to return to learning as quickly as possible.

-   Restore the physical plant, as well as the school community.

-   Monitor how staff are assessing students for the emotional impact of
    the crisis.

-   Identify what follow up interventions are available to students,
    staff, and first responders.

-   Conduct debriefings with staff and first responders.

-   Assess curricular activities that address the crisis.

-   Allocate appropriate time for recovery.

-   Plan how anniversaries of events will be commemorated.

-   Capture "lessons learned" and incorporate them into revisions and
    trainings.