Crisis Management Planning and Evaluation Paper
Miranda Scheen
Liberty University
Introduction
Crisis can happen at any point in time in a school community, state, homes and/or
countries. More importantly, in school community crisis can cause negative effects for all staff
and students. It is important that schools create a certain policy and share it with all staff so when
a crisis arises, everyone knows what to do, and how to react to different crisis. .
What is Crisis?
According to Merriam Webster dictionary, the word crisis is an unstable or crucial time or
state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending (2018). Crisis can occur in counties,
countries, school systems, states and/or homes. Crisis can either be seen as an “opportunity” or
“danger” to all parties involved (Erford, 2015). Different types of crisis a school community
might face are bomb threats, drugs, student or staff deaths fire, hazardous chemical, an intruder,
civil disturbance, and/or weapons in school (FEMA, 2011). In order for schools to maybe catch a
students death is by teachers, and counselors, to observe students who are being bullied, or are
always by themselves. Students who are always alone, and always seem down can be a sign of
those symptoms but also signs of depression. Substance abuse is a little harder to catch with
students, unless the student comes to school already under the influence (Roland, 2002). In order
for schools to be prepared to catch a student from harming others is to create a positive
environment for all students, and really enforce a no bullying policy. 60% of school shootings
start because the students were being bullied (Langman, 2014).
Crisis Management Plan
The purpose of a crisis plan is to identify and respond to incidents in an appropriate
matter. It is a set of guidelines to help schools prepare and respond to crisis in a safe and secure
environment for all students (NEA). Information that should be found in a management plan are
preventions, crisis response team personnel identification, policies and procedures,
communication channels, school safety assessment, and alert response procedures. By having all
this information on one file, when a crisis arises at a school community, they will be able to
handle it in an appropriate manner. Having a team identification, allows staff to know their
specific roles in a case of emergency. Alert response procedures allows for a written step-by-step
instructions to respond to different crisis. Considering the locations during an evacuation is also
important, which is why having fire drills in school communities are very important. Lastly,
having set procedures that the whole school is aware of is the most important. This way, when a
crisis arises the whole school will know the procedure and what steps to take for that specific
crisis (NEA).
Crisis Management Team
A crisis management team consists of people who are in charge of roles and
responsibilities when a crisis strikes. Some of these members may include school district
superintendent or senior administrator, school district safety, school district communications
directors, school district department directors, community mental health agency representative,
and public safety officers. Specifically principals, AP’s, facility managers, food service
personnels, front office teams, nurses, and security officers. This team creates the crisis response
plan with a detailed plan including the school districts safety policy. During a crisis their
responsibility is to initiate emergency notifications, launch the emergency, secure the school,
communicate with the district and determine if counseling services are needed for that specific
crisis (NEA).
I believe school counselors should be involved in a crisis management team, but I also
believe that it should depends on which type of crisis. If the crisis is high level emergency, such
as a shooting, death of a teacher/student, and intruder. I believe that these are the most intense
crisis that could happen in a school community and it could really take a toll on how students are
feeling and the environment in a school. I believe a school counselor should be involved because
they can handle the emotional side of things. Counselors can implement a plan on how to
comfort students during these situations. I don’t believe a counselor should be involved in minor
level crisis; such as flooding, fire, etc. I think they should become available to students and open
their door if students want to share how they are feeling about the crisis, but I believe that the
management team can handle it without the counselors.
Role of the Professional School Counselor
The role of a Professional School Counselor during a crisis is to assist with the overall
direction of the incident management procedure at the site where the crisis has occurred. Some of
their responsibilities include taking steps to ensure the safety of each student and staff, direct
students in their charge, assist transfer of students, and staff, execute assignments as directed by
supervisor (FEMA, 2011). Counselors serve as the main responder for recovery activities to their
school community.
While it is important for the school counselor to take into consideration their school
community and the best way they react to situations, they still must follow the ASCA rules and
regulations (2016). Some ethical procedures that need to be considered when creating crisis
activities for students is to still collaborate with personnel (all staff in the school). If a counselor
believes that a student may be harming someone else, or themselves, they must break
confidentiality and inform the child’s guardian. The counselor should want to avoid any more
harm to the school community. Lastly, another thing that is important to keep in mind is if a
student shares information with the school counselor, the school counselor must still follow
confidentiality (ASCA, 2016).
A school counselor can collaborate with the school before a crisis by listening to students
and having an open door policy. Also by paying attention and seeing if a student has shown signs
of crisis. During a crisis the school counselor can implement activities to help students cope with
the crisis, and again having an open-door policy when available. After a crisis the school
counselors can still check up on students who have visited he/she during the time of the crisis.
They could possibly implement a small group in ways to cope with the crisis.
Collaboration is important during a crisis because the counselor may know different
techniques that other persons may not know. Depending on the counselors experience, one may
have more experience with the crisis. It is important that the counselor understand the child’s
family perspective and cultural background. All students react to crisis and trauma differently. To
help, the counselor can help the student get back to their normal routine.
Crisis Plan Critique
Reading the NEA School Crisis Guide was really easy and simple, I liked the fact that
they split it up into before, during and after. It made it easy to follow and the steps that should be
taken for crisis. One weakness I believed the NEA had was not listing the types of crisis that
could occur in a different manner. It would have been easier to their audience, if they created a
chart like FEMA, and specifically talked about how to handle each crisis and ways each
personnel of the team could handle the crisis. FEMA was more specific to a certain school,
which I thought was helpful to understand how they would go about certain situations. FEMA
broke up the responsibilities to each person involved in the team, which I believed is helpful
when coming up with a plan of action.
I believe both the NEA and FEMA are helpful to know for when a crisis is starting to
arise. Also each school community must know that they are going to have to change different
rules depending on their school policies and regulations. I believe it is more important to know
your school community and respond appropriately to it, but also remember the regulation a
school district must follow to keep all students and staff safe. I had always known there was a
protocol to different crisis, but I had never known how the protocol begins or takes place in a
school.
References:
1. American School Counselor Association. Ethical Standards for School Counselors
(2016). American School Counselor Association, n.d. Web. 4 December 2018
2. FEMA. (2011) Sample School Emergency Operations Plan. n.d.
https://training.fema.gov/programs/emischool/el361toolkit/assets/sampleplan.pdf
3. Langman, P. (2014). Statistics on Bullying and School Shootings
4. NEA. School Crisis Guide: Help and Healing in a Time of Crisis.
5. Roland, E. (2002). Bullying, Depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts. Educational
Research. 44.(1) 55-67
