MASSP News Center

A new publication by the National Education Association Health Information Network (NEA HIN), School Crisis Guide: Help and Healing in a Time of Crisis, is being released to coincide with America’s Safe Schools Week and Bullying Prevention Week.

You are encouraged to use it in educating the public about comprehensive efforts in the nation’s public school system to keep students and school employees safe. Schools and districts will find the Crisis Guide helpful as they review their own safety plans and ready themselves for emergencies. The Crisis Guide is available online and it can be ordered in hard copy at cost.

Overview

• While schools are among the safest places for children, it’s essential that all educators know how to handle crisis situations.
• This comprehensive guide includes three sections: how to prepare for emergencies; how to respond effectively; and how to help students and staff recover as quickly as possible and return to a “new normal.”
• The Crisis Guide provides advice on handling both natural and man made disasters.
• The focus of the Crisis Guide is school safety, and it includes a section on violence prevention.
• The Crisis Guide is now available on the Web at www.neahin.org and is also available in print at cost.
• Parents and caregivers can be given assurance that the Crisis Guide is available to help schools be better prepared to handle emergencies
• The Crisis Guide was developed with the help of a generous grant from the Sprint Foundation.

The online Crisis Guide:

• is free and available for anyone to use on the web or to download.
• is easy to navigate, so users have immediate access to the information they need – whether planning for a crisis or in the midst of handling one.
• features numerous tools, tip sheets and links to web-based resources for all aspects of crisis management, from planning to response to recovery.
• will be updated regularly to reflect new information and best practices.

The online Crisis Guide provides comprehensive information on media relations during a crisis.

To ensure the needs of both the media and the school are met, the Guide outlines how to develop communications protocols with the media. The Crisis Guide provides tips on working with the media during and after the crisis, including how to handle the first anniversary of a crisis. Tools include templates for press releases, frequently asked questions, media interview request forms and school fact sheets.The print version of the Crisis Guide provides a hands-on resource for educators, especially those preparing crisis plans for schools and districts. The Crisis Guide:

• helps school and district leaders develop thoughtful, comprehensive crisis plans before an emergency strikes.
  identifies who should be on the planning team, tips for training staff prior to an emergency, and a checklist to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan.
• offers timely information on what to do during – and after – a crisis.
• includes information about on-line tools on the NEA HIN Web site such as sample letters to parents and staff, strategies for working with the media, volunteer check lists, tips for how to talk with students after a crisis, and classroom activities.