Have a crisis communications plan ready for any emergency. It’s must easier to determine what to do during a crisis when you’re not in the middle of managing one.
Working with your school board’s Communications Officer, your plan should include who to call if a crisis hits, who will serve as the media spokesperson and how media access will be managed at the school. The plan should be shared with and explained to all staff members and reviewed regularly so each one fully understands his or her role when trouble hits.
Key messages, statements, scripts, announcements, letters, social media posts, etc. should be developed as details are available so these don’t necessarily have to be a part of your plan, unless some elements of the crisis can be anticipated.