Lessons Learned Will Help Schools
Contend with Crisis
When a school has put its crisis plan
into action, that process later becomes
a learning event for those involved
as well as for other school districts. The
U.S. Department of Education’s Readiness
and Emergency Management for Schools
(REMS) Technical Assistance Center has
published four documents in a series of
lessons learned that spotlight critical actions,
decisions, and events from actual
crisis situations. Below is a synopsis of
Vol. 1, Issue 2 titled A Coordinated
Response To Multiple Deaths in a School
Community Helps the Healing Begin.
School Responds After Deadly Car
Crash
After a weekend traffic accident claimed
the lives of seven of its students, one
school shared its experiences about
initiating its crisis response procedures.
The school’s crisis team acted quickly and
successfully completed a number of tasks
to support students, teachers, and staff
during the initial shock of the tragedy. The
team’s actions include:
• Maintaining the regular schedule and
each afternoon removing the tokens of
remembrance that accumulated at the
students’ lockers.
• Establishing a short-term counseling
center for students.
• Offering teachers and staff resources
such as classroom discussion points,
daily updates on funeral services, and
food and flowers in the faculty breakroom.
• Offering information to parents through
a letter sent home with students the first
day back at school and a support meeting
held later in the week.
• Offering support to the families of the
deceased, including special considerations
for picking up their children’s
belongings.
• Helping with additional administrative
responsibilities that arose after the
incident.
• Establishing an effi cient media-relations
plan to answer media requests while
shielding students from being asked to
comment.
• Acquiring support for the caregivers
including the administration, faculty,
staff, and crisis team members.
• Planning a moment of silence to commemorate
the first anniversary of the
event.
Crisis Response Team Learns
Valuable Lessons
The school crisis response team highlighted
here responded in an outstanding manner
during the aftermath of losing many
students at once. However, the experience
brought to light the importance of having
a detailed, school-based plan in place. This
team identified a number of procedures
and considerations that should be established
before a tragic event occurs. Some
of the suggestions include:
• Develop a crisis handbook.
• Conduct training for the crisis team.
• Create memoranda of understanding to
coordinate resources (such as managing
donations).
• Document needs, tasks completed, and
responses as they occur.
• Establish processes for communicating
with families, teachers, and the media.
• Organize support for school personnel,
perhaps arranging for other schools to
help with duties or provide amenities
such as refreshments.
• Conduct mandatory debriefings with
caregivers to prevent emotional burnout.
• Establish a policy for school-sponsored
memorial activities.
Read about School Tip Lines Offer Safety Net
To read the full account of this crisis event
and the others in the series called Lessons
Learned, visit the REMS Web site at
http://www.ed.gov/programs/dvpemergencyresponse/index.html
and click on the
Publications link. 
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