How to develop
a crisis
communication
plan for schools

During a crisis, time is of the essence. How quickly and accurately schools communicate during an emergency can have a direct impact on student and teacher safety.

The pandemic highlighted how essential communication is for schools. Facing a dizzying amount of COVID-19-related disruptions, administrators relied on near-constant communication with students, teachers, parents and their communities to keep all stakeholders abreast of changes.

To prepare for emergencies, schools need a crisis communication plan detailing how to respond when needed. This proactive planning combined with the right technology and a strong network can ensure crisis communication by schools is reliable and immediate—when it matters most.

A crisis communication plan for schools is a detailed document with instructions on how to disseminate information to students, teachers, parents, the community and the media in the event of an emergency. Crises are defined broadly as any event endangering the safety of students and staff, including natural disasters, criminal activity, infectious disease outbreaks and school infrastructure failures.

Natural disasters like earthquakes and fires, safety concerns and infectious disease outbreaks are unfortunate realities for schools today. Schools need clear guidelines for notifying first responders, teachers, students, parents and the media during these emergencies.

Less time spent crafting and sending messages means more time dedicated to ensuring the safety of students and staff. As the Centers for Disease Control stated, "The right message at the right time from the right person can save lives."

With a crisis communication plan for schools in place, parents could receive urgent information quickly regarding their child's safety. Emergency or not, robust parent communication benefits students.

The key stakeholders in a crisis communication plan for schools include students and staff on campus as well as parents and the community off campus. All stakeholders will need answers to key questions, such as what happened, who's impacted and how the school is responding. Each audience has specific needs for information:

• First responders: What happened? Where? What is the current situation? Are there any ongoing safety concerns?
• Students: What happened? Am I safe? How can I contact my family?
• Parents: What happened? Is my child safe? How can I locate my child? Is this an ongoing threat? What are you going to do to prevent this from happening again?
• Teachers/staff: What happened? Am I safe? How can I best protect my students?
• Community: What happened? How are students and staff impacted by this crisis? Is there a larger threat to the community?
• Media: What happened? How many students and staff are impacted by this event? Who (if applicable) is responsible?

The first step in developing a crisis communication plan for schools is to perform a risk assessment for potential crises. Natural disasters, violence, technological threats and infectious disease are some to consider. After this assessment, draft plans with the following information:

• Communications team: Designate a team of staff members with specific roles during a campus emergency. Roles specify who will collect information, who will approve messaging, who will disseminate it and who will talk with the media.
• Checklist: Define tiers of emergencies and critical first steps to take in response to each type of crisis.
• Validation and approval procedures: Outline procedures for verifying and approving information internally before release.
• Scripted messaging: Include templates and messages for known risks (natural disasters, school safety). In the event of a crisis, prewritten messages can offload stress during chaotic moments.
• Contact information: List key contacts in local and state government, media and after-hours contact information for every communications team member.

The nature of today's instant information culture means students, parents and staff can be subjected to rumors and false reports during an emergency, jeopardizing their safety. Fortunately, advances in technology make communicating easier and quicker than ever, allowing schools to get ahead of the reports and communicate efficiently.

Direct two-way communication (such as intercoms, phones and radios) enable schools to notify first responders and campus staff instantly. Mass notification systems with text and voice capabilities can help deliver urgent messages to specific audiences at scale with ease.

Schools often maintain safety pages on their websites, sharing information on their emergency plans. As part of a crisis communication plan, schools can design a hidden landing page with critical information, ready to deploy when disaster strikes. Schools can also use social media to dispel rumors and communicate credible threats. This frequent and open communication builds community trust.

As another layer of assurance, some districts use datacasting, an emergency response communication system using television signals to provide information to first responders. Critical school information (school databases, student contact information, campus layouts and safety plans) is stored on television station servers and can be accessed and dispatched by television signals using repurposed broadband. Most critically, datacasting offers reliability should other communication infrastructure fail in an emergency. In addition, school districts may be able to qualify for Wireless Priority Service (WPS), in advance of an incident, through the Department of Homeland Security. WPS provides special voice priority for wireless communications to aid with campus security.

In addition to enabling communication during and after a crisis, technology like tip lines, campus badging and entry control, video surveillance and social media monitoring can help schools mitigate risk and aid in preventing a crisis.