Safety & Security (Prepare and Be Aware)
Not an Option: Best Practices for Managing Crisis
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Because emergencies can and do happen anywhere, it’s imperative that schools be equipped with mass notification and communication systems. “They’re necessary to
keep others safe and lower anxiety — and because we are responsible
to our clientele,” says Edward Dorff, executive director for
Green Bay-based Wisconsin School Safety Coordinators Association
(WSSCA) in Green Bay, a non-profit association of professionals
dedicated to the task of improving security, safety and health in
Wisconsin schools. “Informing people and keeping them informed
in any type of emergency is a legal consideration, as well as a moral
and ethical consideration.
“Also, we know that people are receiving information; we want
to make sure it’s the correct information,” Dorff continues. With
mass notification and communication systems, it’s possible to
ensure that people receive correct information, and managing
emergencies becomes less challenging.
“For example,” says Dorff, “one time, by order of the police department,
we put four of our schools on a Level 2 lockdown, which is where
something’s happening in the community and we don’t want people
leaving the building and we want to be very careful of who’s coming in
the building. The phones in the schools started ringing off the hook because
students were texting their parents that they were on lockdown.
“What I did was not protocol,” Dorff continues, “but it worked
and was the best I could manage. I sent an email to the teachers
explaining what was happening and indicating that, in one minute,
I would announce this to the students. Then I went on the PA system and told the teachers to check their email. A minute later I went on
the PA system, explained the situation to the students and told them
to text their parents. It brought everyone’s anxiety level down and, in
doing so, built a better level of trust. If we’d had a system at the time,
I could have simply communicated directly with parents.”
Now that we know that mass notification and communication
systems are not optional, here is a discussion of best practices for
developing, maintaining and managing a system.
Best Practices for Developing a System
“The development process always starts with an assessment; that’s
nothing new in education,” says Mike Munger, Southwest Idaho school
safety analyst for the Idaho Office of School Safety and Security, which
falls under the Division of Building Safety and which is mandated by
the state to support Idaho public schools in the creation of safe learning
environments in the midst of an evolving threat environment. “In this
case, a needs assessment is a critical component for determining how
the system will work. It drives the deployment from the very beginning
stages.” Here are additional development best practices.
- “Write a policy that is explicit in the need and responsibility to
communicate with families in the community about any crisis
you have,” says Dorff, who acknowledges that not all Idaho school
districts have mass notification and communication systems.
- Determine to whom you want to communicate in what situation:
students, parents and students, or emergency responders? Part of this consideration includes thinking realistically
about how the system will work in real life — in both day-to-day
situations and emergency situations.
- Consider ESL and impaired message recipients. Many
districts have students and parents for whom English is not their
first language. A plan must be made for communicating through
diverse languages. Also consider the deaf/hearing impaired and
blind/vision impaired. How will you communicate with them? “Once that is resolved,” says Tom Kelley, school safety specialist
for the Texas School Safety Center (TxSSC) in San Marcos, “test,
exercise and drill using to ensure that what you’re putting in place
actually keeps students safe rather than simply giving the impression
that it will.” TxSSC is a state-mandated, university-level
research center at Texas State University that serves as a clearinghouse
for the dissemination of safety and security information
through research, training, and technical assistance for K-12
schools and junior colleges throughout the state.
- Choose the right tool for the message. Understand that, in
some cases, a mass notification and communication system is not
the best way to communicate, and that there are more effective,
faster and objective ways to reach your audience. “It’s not an
end-all, be-all for emergency communications,” says Munger,
“it’s one of many options. It’s very effective for what it does. So it’s
important to understand what it does well and how it your needs
in terms of who receives the information.
“For example,” Munger continues, “let’s say a need has arisen
requiring parents to pick up their students earlier than they
normally would, such as a need to evacuate the building. In this
case, a mass notification and communication system works well
to get the message out quickly. Then, explaining what happened
that caused the need to evacuate and what you’re going to do in the
future is best done via the school website, where you can offer an
in-depth explanation.”
Similarly, you will use different modalities to communicate
with bus drivers, emergency first responders and the media. The
takeaway? A mass notification and communication system allows
you to burst out large amounts of fairly brief information, but it’s
neither the best way nor the only way to manage an issue.
- Build in redundancy. Your communication plan must be built
with redundancy because there are so many factors to consider
when planning for an emergency. “Take Texas, for example,” says
Kelley. “There are rural areas with miles and miles of Mexican
border. These areas may have sketchy cell phone coverage.” Additionally,
sometimes things don’t work as they’re intended. For example,
in an emergency, cell phone towers may be overwhelmed
and calls may not get through.
- Involve the community and experts. “I recommend taking a
community approach of meeting with local law enforcement, hospitals,
the health department and parents to understand the scope of
who needs notified under what circumstances and then looking at
what systems would work best,” says Kelley. “Work with an expert,
because it takes an expert to narrow what system/product would
work best when there are so many options available.”
- Choose a system that can be used for both day-to-day and
emergency communications. “If a system is designed well in
the first place,” says Munger, “it lends itself to ongoing operational
uses. What’s troublesome is buying a one-off solution with the
intention of using it only for emergencies. What happens is that
people who are trained to use the system move to new positions,
and the number of trained staff and use falls off. Also, people
forget their log on information because they don’t log on often. So
the more you use it in day-to-day, non-emergency communications,
the better you work out the kinks.”
- Inquire about access. Ask if the system you’re considering purchasing
can be accessed from cell phones and home computers
in addition to desktop computers. “More and more, we’re finding
that being able to access via multiple technologies is helpful,” says
Dorff. “If the superintendent is out of town and needs to issue a
snow emergency announcement, it’s ideal if it can be done from
the superintendent’s current location and available technology,
no matter how remote.”
- Inquire about compatibility. “Administrators must ensure that
the system they choose is fully compatible with their student
information systems and related technology,” says Ken Trump,
MPA, president of Cleveland-based National School Safety and
Security Services, a school safety consulting firm. “They need to
be able to have seamless input and use capabilities. School leaders
often aim for voice and text messaging capabilities.”
Best Practices for Maintaining a System
Once your system is developed, you move to the maintenance step.
- Training is not to be overlooked. “The facilities and IT staff who
are charged with installing, servicing and maintaining the equipment
need solid training,” says Dorff. “When the vendors install the
equipment, we must make sure the staff charged with maintaining it
is getting up-to-date training on it.”
Also put in place training for the people charged with the communication
responsibility, including building principals and central
office administrators. That training should include an understanding
of the incident command system and crisis communication protocols
within it. “When we talk about the need to do mass communication,”
says Dorff, “it may be as innocuous as tonight’s volleyball or parent
teacher conferences, which are helpful. But it may be about more serious
things that must be controlled and monitored. That’s where the
training about the line of communication comes into play.”
- Train broadly. “All the technology in the world isn’t worth a darn
if people don’t know how to use it,” says Dorff. “Consider training
clerical and facilities staff.” He sites an example where there were
cameras inside a school and footage needed to be viewed, but no
one in the building at the time knew how to operate the system.
- Testing must be conducted regularly. “There must be an expectation
that the equipment is being used and tested regularly,” says Dorff. “If you have 42 sites, then 42 principals must have the
ability to access the school messenger system, and they should
be using it on a regular basis so that, if there’s a glitch, it can be
repaired immediately.”
Best Practices for Managing a System
“When you move from low-frequency, high-impact usage to
ongoing, everyday usage, the easier the management component
becomes,” says Munger. That said, here’s what else you must know
about system management.
- Write a mass notification and communication system policy
in your overall communication plan. “Managing a system
always involves a delicate marriage between what the technology
can do and how we want to use it,” says Munger. “So having a
firm policy on who can use the system and in what circumstances,
if and when pre-staged messages are used, and training, all
lend a hand in the message component.”
- Know who’s in charge. There must one person in charge of the
system, and that person must know it’s his or her responsibility.
“I like it when that person is not reactive but proactive,” says
Dorff, “checking in with users on a regular basis to answer questions
and letting them know that support is available.”
Final Considerations
While mass notification and communication
systems get information out quickly,
there is much to consider in both building
an emergency communications plan and
making a purchasing decision. Trump
sums it up with four points. First, they’re
just one tool in a school’s overall emergency
preparedness plan. “Second, they’re only
as good as the data put into them,” he says. “Third, their effectiveness depends upon
effective use of the system by school leaders,
who are juggling many priorities during a
true school crisis. And fourth, like any technology,
they are only as good as the people
and practices behind the equipment or
service. Staff training, drills and testing of
technological support systems are all important
to overall school emergency planning.”
Finally, here’s an example of what
happens without mass notification and
communication systems. “Last spring there
was a tragedy in one of our smaller school
districts,” says Dorff. “A recent graduate
came to prom and started shooting. In talking
with the folks there, I discovered that
one school administrator learned about it
because someone from another town called
him when that person’s daughter saw it on
Facebook. Communication went out by
social media before he learned about it from
police. That’s a horrible way to learn about
a tragic event in your district.” While this is
not a worst-case scenario of what can happen
without a system, it doesn’t take a great
stretch to imagine what could happen in a
worst-case scenario.
“We need to think not of cost but of
value,” says Dorff. “Having used mass
notification and communication systems
and seen their efficacy, I know that they are
of very, very high value.”
WHAT QUESTIONS
SHOULD YOU ASK VENDORS?
When you’re ready to begin shopping
for a mass notification and communication
system, there are a number of questions
you’ll want to ask vendors. The first, of
course, is cost. But there are plenty more. “I
want to know about ease of use and access,”
says Edward Dorff, executive director for
Green Bay-based Wisconsin School Safety
Coordinators Association (WSSCA) in Green
Bay. “In other words, how easy is it to send
messages? Also, I want to know what platforms
the system supports: voice mail, text,
email? What are its capabilities? How quickly
I can get it on board? Does it interface with
our current student management system?”
Asking these questions will help you find the
system that’s best for your school or district.
This article originally appeared in the issue of .