Five Essential Elements to
Avoid Chaos
News travels fast and school leaders often struggle to keep up, especially
when there is a crisis. The old way of having 30-60 minutes to gather details
and distribute information is extinct thanks to social media. You only have
seconds to respond and in the absence of answers, people often come to
their own conclusions. And those conclusions can create panic and chaos.
For too long, school leaders have positioned themselves as defensive com-
municators. Instead of guiding the story, school leaders are forced to back
peddle, answering myriad questions without any strategic purpose. During
crisis when the stakes are higher, this defensive mindset is the difference
between calm and catastrophe.
Strategic thinking and contingency tactics will help you navigate through
crisis. But the art of winning the crisis communications battle begins by
delivering the Five Essential Elements to Avoid Chaos. District leaders should
adhere to the following sequence:
1. WELL-BEING:
It’s important to remember the primary goal of the district: provide a healthy
and safe environment for the students, staff and teachers. Your first state-
ment should be similar to this: “The first priority of the Anytown, USA Unified
School District is to provide a healthy and safe learning environment for all of
the students, staff and teachers.”
2. WHAT HAPPENED:
Less is more in this category. If you have 5 pieces of information, give your
listeners 3. If you have 3, give them 2. The strategy here is to keep the crisis
moving and have more information during your next communication. Having
1-2 details in your pocket allows you to drive the messaging.
3. YOUR ACTIONS:
What did you, the district and/or law enforcement do.
4. THE NEXT STEPS:
What has the district planned to support the students, staff and teachers.
5. WELL-BEING:
It’s tough to say, but in the case of crisis, listeners don’t care about you. They
only care about the students, staff and teachers on campus. Make sure to
remind your listeners of your district’s primary goal and the condition of those
students, staff and teachers.
Naj Alikhan is ACSA’s Senior Director of Marketing and Communications.
Before joining ACSA, he spent 8 years as a news reporter and anchor with
CBS and NBC News focusing on crime and breaking news.
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Leadership
incident is being handled appropriately.
OMSD has protocols in place that safely
deploy district administrators to school sites
immediately to support the school. Any-
time there is a threat or perceived threat,
district administrators go to the school
site and help assess the situation and sup-
port the steps that need to be taken. Addi-
tionally, the district has also provided each
classroom with food and water in the event
of a prolonged lock down. This would allow
students to stay in class and not worry about
having food or water.
5. Planning ahead
The truth is that no one is fully prepared
for every situation that can happen, but
planning and practicing will help you make
better decisions in an emergency. Staying
abreast of the best research will help schools
modify the way they choose to evacuate and
deal with emergencies. In OMSD, planning
and preparing also built confidence with the
staff. This includes going to active shooter
training and making sure all administrators
have a plan of action for these matters. This
fall all schools will have additional active
shooter training in conjunction with local
law enforcement.
Times have certainly changed. When
I went to school, students worried about
passing a math test or not being the most
popular person in the class. It is heartbreak-
ing that our students today, on top of ev-
erything else, have to worry about school
violence either by an intruder or by their
very own classmate. Although this type of
violence it is still very rare, taking careful
steps to improve campus safety and being
prepared for an effective and well-commu-
nicated response can make the whole com-
munity feel safer and will prepare you in the
unlikely event of an emergency.
Marco Villegas is the Regional Director
of Learning and Teaching in the Ontario-
Montclair School District.