CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) AND SCSBC’S RESPONSE: Find the lastest updates here for students, faculty and staff.
CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) AND SCSBC’S RESPONSE: Find the lastest updates here for students, faculty and staff.
Sooner or later, every school administrator will be faced with an emergency situation that necessitates an immediate and sustained response in order to protect students and staff, both physically and emotionally. While it can be painful and disturbing to contemplate, it is important that school leaders prepare themselves and their staff to recognize and act in situations that require such a response.
Consider the following scenarios:
These scenarios cause an immediate and understandable emotional response, which can include any combination of fear, anger, grief, and confusion. In some cases, an immediate response is essential. In most cases, a timely response is required. At the same time, the blend of complexity and heightened emotion can make it extremely difficult to carry out an appropriate response. Because our ability to think clearly and systematically is significantly reduced in a crisis situation, education, practice, and debriefing are crucial to emergency preparedness.
As leaders of Christian schools, our approach to emergency preparation and response must be rooted in our school’s mission and vision. When we invite each member of our school community to play their part in emergency preparedness, we are inviting them to live into their identity in the body of Christ. As we practice and debrief emergency protocols that help keep us safe, we embody God’s call to care for each other. In this context, schools best protect their community through regular attention to emergency preparation and procedures and by educating different members about their roles and responsibilities in crisis situations.
From its beginning, the SCSBC has sought to provide advice, support, and encouragement to school leaders as they navigate various challenging circumstances. About two decades ago, the desire to provide practical support in emergency preparation and response led to the creation of the first emergency management resource. Since then, the School Emergency Handbook has undergone several significant updates to reflect changing needs of member schools and new recommendations from the government. In recent years, the Ministry of Education and Child Care has placed a high priority on schools having clear safety protocols and procedures, which include both preparing for emergencies and responding to them in appropriate ways.
As the SCSBC team planned for the most recent update to the School Emergency Handbook, it became clear that a website would be the most effective way to keep information current in the rapidly changing field of emergency preparedness. The new website was launched for member schools at the beginning of March after undergoing a testing process involving volunteers from our schools around the province. In its present form, the Handbook site offers resources and guidelines that will help schools to prepare for various emergency situations and to respond to scenarios such as those described above. It also offers guidance for schools in the aftermath of a crisis, as they seek to provide care and support to students, staff and families who are processing their grief and loss. Within a “preparation, response, and recovery” framework, the School Emergency Handbook provides information, tools, and forms to support schools in the following areas:
In addition to these topics, there are recommendations for building emergency response teams, communicating effectively in a crisis, and educating and training staff, students, and parents.
Emergency preparedness can consume a great amount of time and energy for school leaders and their teams. It can be difficult to prioritize preparing for events that may not occur for some time, or even at all. It can also be tempting to keep staff discussion of crisis response to a minimum in order to avoid the added stress of considering the possibility of such occurrences. Teachers may limit student conversations about emergency response to those mandated in school policy, so as not to add undue stressors to the lives of students already dealing with many anxieties. In reality, however, both staff and students experience less anxiety about emergencies if they know what is expected of them and how they will be cared for. They are empowered to meet an emergency situation after they have participated in different scenarios and have had the opportunity to debrief them. Our schools care most effectively for students and staff by educating them about what to expect and keeping them informed about how the school will respond to different safety or emergency situations.
When emergency preparedness is prioritized appropriately, it can provide staff and students with opportunities to build resilience that will help them to recover in the aftermath of a traumatic event. The following principles can serve as a helpful framework for school communities who seek to build resilience in the context of preparing for emergencies:
Normalize the effects of traumatic events on our spiritual, social, emotional, and physical well-being.
Invite staff and students to identify both internal and external resources individuals can draw on when facing adversity.
Reflect together on the role each person can play in building a supportive community. Name and celebrate the ways this is already evident.
Perform emergency drills only within the context of student education. Provide opportunities for students and staff to debrief and reflect afterwards.
Whether schools are early in the emergency preparedness process or are seeking to update emergency plans already in place, it is important that administrators avoid taking on too many things at once. The vital work of emergency preparation and response must be done collectively, one step at a time, and in a way that reflects each school’s particular culture and environment. As school leaders identify the next steps in this process, they are encouraged to begin by asking the following questions:
How can our mission and vision frame our work?
How can we identify and involve staff members who have a suitable skill set?
How might we engage the parent community?
How can emergency preparedness help us to build student and staff resilience?
Given our school’s particular context and needs, what is our next priority?
In closing, as SCSBC schools engage in the work of caring for students, staff, and families through emergency preparation and response, they do so within a larger community. The School Emergency Handbook is just one of the ways in which this is evident. As we look ahead, we continue to seek ways to support each other in this work through ongoing training opportunities, sharing of resources, and, most of all, the encouragement we receive from each other.
Kristie Spyksma
SCSBC Associate Director of Learning / Safe & Caring Schools
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