10 Critical Protocols for Enhanced School Terrorism Preparedness
Protocols for communication, lockdown, reverse evacuation and reunification are just some of the procedures your campus should have in place.
6. Shelter in place for hazardous materials protocol
Unfortunately, very few K-12 schools have, train on and practice properly developed hazardous materials sheltering plans. One of the most dangerous approaches is to combine severe weather sheltering and hazardous materials sheltering into one protocol. The dangers of hazardous materials are far different than those associated with tornado strikes on buildings. This means that the proper action steps for each protocol are dramatically different. Similarly, it is not appropriate to combine biological and radiological incidents into this protocol. Due to the intensive focus on active shooter incidents, our experience has been that fewer schools now conduct at least one shelter in place drill annually than was the case prior to the Sandy Hook attack. Local fire department hazardous materials specialists or state emergency management personnel are often very helpful in developing or updating these critical procedures.
7. Biological incident protocol
This is another type of attack that we often see addressed incorrectly or not addressed at all in written school crisis plans. A significant percentage of plans that do address this type of incident incorrectly include it under the shelter in place protocol even though the action steps for each are very different.
RELATED: DHS Emergency Preparedness Resources for Schools
8. Radiological incident protocol
While school and public safety officials often do not address this topic if there is not a nuclear power facility in the region, any school can be impacted by a man-made radiological event. Local and state emergency management agencies are often able to assist in developing a radiological incident protocol.
9. Offsite family reunification protocols
One of the most difficult and complex functions in any school crisis where parents believe their children may be in imminent danger is the reunification of students with family members. This function will typically be required for school shootings, hostage situations, situations where an explosive device is found or detonates, tornado strikes on a school and any reported act of terrorism at or in close proximity to a school. It is important to understand that the media
coverage and social media messaging after an incident can make this process necessary even when the actual event might not ordinarily require it.
School and public safety officials who have experienced mass casualty events consistently tell us that they significantly underestimated the difficulty of this process. We advocate careful and detailed off-site family reunification planning combined with staff development. It is also a good idea to use a progressive series of drills, tabletop exercises, at least one functional exercise and when possible, a full-scale family reunification exercise to properly vet family reunification plans.
RELATED: 3 Steps to Creating a Family Reunification Plan
10. Media protocol
While most schools and school districts have planned for the public information function, an often overlooked area is a media protocol and staff development to ingrain in staff the importance of not speaking to the press during or in the wake of a crisis event. Though most schools and districts have written policies governing this, it is quite common to see staff who have witnessed a major crisis make unauthorized comments to media representatives.
RELATED: Crisis Communications After An Active Shooter Incident
Addressing this possibility in a crisis plan component for all staff, combined with training and practice during drills can reduce the chances that an employee who has been traumatized by an event will make comments to the media.
By using a comprehensive approach and resisting the emotive temptation to focus too intently on active shooter incidents, school officials and their community partners can prepare more realistically and effectively for the wide array of methodologies that have been used in terrorist attacks on schools, special events and school buses.
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About the Author
Michael Dorn, Contributor
Michael Dorn serves as the Executive Director of Safe Havens International, a global non profit campus safety center. During his 30 year campus safety career, Michael has served as a university police officer, corporal, sergeant and lieutenant. He served as a school system police chief for ten years before being appointed the lead expert for the nation's largest state government K-20 school safety center. The author of 25 books on school safety, his work has taken him to Central America, Mexico, Canada, Europe, Asia, South Africa and the Middle East. Michael welcomes comments, questions or requests for clarification at mike@weakfish.org. Note: The views expressed by guest bloggers and contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, Campus Safety magazine.
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