The Vermont School Crisis Guide
To All School Leaders and Emergency Service Providers:
The Vermont School Crisis Guide has been revised to improve its use by School Crisis Teams and Public Safety Committees. For instance, the Guide is now organized by roles so users can quickly locate their responsibilities in a crisis. The Crisis Guide pages can be used to document pertinent information (time, witnesses) immediately after an emergency situation, essential in constructing an incident report. The Guide can be downloaded from the Web so that school leaders can modify its contents to conform to local situations and resources. A three-ring binder with alphabetized tabs and a training DVD has been distributed to every school principal and superintendent. A school safety check list is also available on the VSBA web site.
Our goal is to provide school and community leaders with the most effective
planning and response strategies for dealing with emergency and/or crisis situations.
These resources conform to the requirements of 16 V.S.A., Chapter 33, and Rule
4102 of the Vermont State Board of Education Manual of Rules and Practices.
The School Crisis Team and Public Safety Committee
The School Crisis Team is made up of individuals within the school staff, such as the principal, nurse, school resource officer, guidance counselor, teacher(s), custodian, etc. The Public Safety Committee consists of some members of the School Crisis Team plus representatives from law enforcement, fire, rescue, Local/Regional Emergency Planning Commission(s), and the newly established Community Emergency Response Team (authorized as part of the federal Homeland Security network). Both entities are created to assist the principal in planning for and responding to school crises.
The School Crisis Team should work with the principal and the Public Safety Committee to plan monthly emergency drills that are required under current Vermont law. 16 V.S.A., section 1481 states:
“The principal or person in charge of a public or independent school or educational institution shall drill the pupils so that they may be able to leave the school building or perform other procedures described in the school's emergency preparedness plan, or both in the shortest possible time and without panic or confusion.”
The Public Safety Committee should establish in advance an incident command system that identifies the principal as the primary incident commander. Emergency response personnel assume that role later. When it is determined that a crime has been committed, the law enforcement commander will take charge. If a fire or a hazardous materials situation develops, the fire chief will become the incident commander.
During a major crisis the principal and emergency service providers form what is called a “unified incident command system”, with all key leaders sharing in the decision-making process.
The most effective Public Safety Committees meet on a monthly basis to plan and conduct periodic tabletop and functional emergency exercises. The principal is the communications and planning liaison between the Public Safety Committee and the School Crisis Team.
Using the Vermont School Crisis Guide
The Vermont School Crisis Guide is intended for use by school administrators and emergency service providers for planning purposes and when responding to crisis situations. The Vermont School Crisis Planning Team encourages school leaders and local emergency service providers to work together to create locally customized print materials for insertion into a three-ring binder. To further expand communications between school leaders and emergency service providers, the locally customized Crisis Guide may be uploaded to the school or community web site and shared through secure password access.
Since the information contained in the Crisis Guide is general in nature, each school or district should tailor procedures to fit local needs and capabilities. Schools should use the Crisis Guide as a framework to implement local school policy and administrative procedures, which are based on a comprehensive school emergency operations plan. For effective utilization of this resource, use the Crisis Guide at staff in-service trainings, review procedures at the beginning of each school year and practice different aspects of the Clear the Halls, Secure the School, and/or Evacuation/Relocation exercises with students and staff during monthly emergency drills.
Knowing who to call, logging local emergency phone numbers in your customized Crisis Guide, and pre-programming them in the school's phone system can save time, property, and, possibly, lives.
The Crisis Guide is intended to be a practical outline for action in a variety of emergencies. It will be most effective when:
Your customized Crisis Guide will serve as the School Emergency Preparedness Plan as outlined in Vermont law and the Vermont Department of Education Rule 4102.
Simplified Emergency Commands
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Homeland Security recommend that schools use the simplified emergency commands listed below, and detailed in the Crisis Guide, to conduct emergency drills and responding to a major crisis:
“Clear the Halls”
“Secure the School”
“Evacuate the Building”
The Vermont School Crisis Planning Team recommends that a simple Crisis Command Placard be prominently placed in all teaching spaces that direct teachers, staff, and students about how to respond to each of the simplified emergency commands listed above.
Crisis Management
Crises are unexpected, often unpredictable and take many forms. No school and community can be fully prepared for everything that may happen, but some simple measures are helpful in any crisis situation:
When the School Crisis Team responds to an incident they should make decisions about the following categories based on school crisis policies, procedures, and factual information known at the time:
There may be instances when time-sensitive decisions have to be made quickly by the principal or designee, thus bypassing involvement of the School Crisis Team or Public Safety Committee. During a crisis situation, Public Safety Committee members may (in their role as first responders) work from a predetermined emergency operations center, also refered to as incident command.
Emergency Equipment
Some schools have placed emergency response resource equipment in every classroom. This equipment often includes a fluorescent vest or brightly colored hat to be worn by school staff during an emergency. Many schools have purchased a multitude of cell phones or portable radios to enhance on-site emergency communications. Other key equipment might include a backpack for each teacher that contains a medical kit, garbage bags to help keep students warm and dry, decks of playing cards, and a current student attendance roster.
Student Restraint Resources
There may be times when it is appropriate for school staff to utilize pre-established student restraint procedures when a student perpetrates a violent incident, and school staff members want to prevent the student from further injuring themselves and others. The Vermont Department of Education BEST Initiative has trained many school staff members from around the state to deal with situations involving conflict and physical aggression. The BEST project was developed to respond to the near unanimous concern of school leaders, parents, students, and legislators that issues of safety, school climate, and discipline were significantly limiting the academic and social success of many of our students. BEST has been successful helping educators and school administrators from throughout the state to both prevent and respond to student behavioral challenges.
Other School Crisis Resources
The Crisis Guide is intended for use in conjunction with the following resources:
These resources are available on the VSBA Web site listed below:
The Vermont School Boards Association Web site also provides access to U.S. Secret Service School Threat Assessment resources. You’ll be able to review the research findings compiled by a Secret Service psychologist who analyzed major crises involving student violence in schools over the past 30 years. The PowerPoint slides reinforce the importance of creating trusting relationships and open communication between students, staff, and parents.
A Crisis Training DVD has been attached to the inside cover of the three-ring binder sent to each principal and superintendent. The DVD has been produced to help the Public Safety Committee and/or School Crisis Team conduct and debrief table top emergency exercises. There is a limited supply of additional training DVDs available upon request by law enforcement agencies and fire departments. Contact the Vermont Department of Education, Safe, and Healthy Schools Division at 802-828-5109 for more information.
The School Crisis Planning Committee also received a Homeland Security grant
to help fund the development and distribution of crisis resources. The grant
is funding phase I of a school mapping project, which uses a specialized digital
camera to create a virtual tour of school classrooms and hallways. The spherical
photos are transformed into CD or Memory Stick software for use by law enforcement
and fire officials to more safely respond to school crises.
Crisis Prevention
Finally, to quote an old athletic cliché, "the best defense is a good offense!" In the context of maintaining safe schools, this means building a positive school culture which places a premium on creating a safe, civil, and respectful learning environment. This philosophy is always more productive than reacting to out-of-control students. With this concept in mind, many schools have established student conferencing and peer support systems to assist students and staff to address volatile situations before they escalate into crisis mode.
A large body of research continues to demonstrate the importance of programs that help students increase their personal developmental assets, i.e. empowerment for learning, strong self-concept, home, and community support, etc. Routine interaction with at least one positive role model who provides unconditional support for every child is a much more effective strategy than dealing with the effects of negative student behavior that may lead to school violence. Students, who feel disconnected from their school, peer group, and society, often perpetrate incidents of school violence.
A number of school and community resources are available through regional "New Directions" grants and Child Protection Teams. The U.S. Justice Department COPS program provides funds for communities to employ school resource officers.
In closing, we commend you for taking the time to update and practice how your school will respond to emergency and crisis situations. We wish you the best of luck and hope none of the identified crises ever occur in your school or community!
—The Vermont School Crisis Planning Team
School Crisis Training DVD
The School Crisis Training DVD that has been distributed to all school principals and superintendents was filmed at Essex Union High School. The following people were cast in roles as:
Narrator - Winton Goodrich, Associate Director, Vermont School Boards Association
Hallway Knife Incident – Essex UHS Drama Students
Principal in Hallway Knife Incident and Answering Irate Parent Phone Call – Jeff Goddard, Program Manager, National Center for the Study of Counter-Terrorism and Cyber Crime
Teacher in Hallway Knife Incident and Staff Member Answering Bomb Threat Phone Call –
Kym Mooney, Drama Teacher, Essex Union High School
Irate Parent – Doug Dows, Director, Safe and Healthy Schools, Vermont Department of Education
The DVD was filmed and produced by the Regional Education Television Network, Colchester, Vermont.
School Bomb Search Training Video
A school bomb search DVD has also been distributed to school principals with information and strategies to help in such a situation.