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Association leaders such as UniServ representatives, local presidents and others can help their communities prepare, provide support to staff and help in the aftermath of a crisis.
- Forge relationships and networks before a crisis strikes.
- Offer to help leaders develop district-level and school-level preparedness and crisis response plans.
- Assist in efforts to identify community experts and resources.
- Establish communications channels capable of informing and updating local association members.
- Decide which association staff will:
- Work with the district or school crisis response team.
- Arrive on-site to meet association member needs.
- Handle the phones in the association office and provide callers with accurate information.
- Communicate with NEA headquarters.
- Write correspondence and seek out extra resources for affected areas.
- Provide information, research and best practices on how to deal with member and student needs.
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- Contact state and local associations to access any crisis response resources that may be available. Provide as much information as possible and determine what supplies and resources may be needed.
- Assign local or state association liaison to work with the school district. Determine who should report to the site based on skill set, proximity and availability. Find out whether a lockdown is in place and how it might impact association participation.
- Develop a script for those answering the phone at state and local offices. Include accurate information on what happened and what is being done. Provide information about how the state and local associations are involved.
- Provide support for staff at site. The state or local liaison can help assess staff needs for the next 24 hours and beyond.
- Provide support for central administration. The association can provide resources on crisis management and serve as an extra set of hands to help with logistics, etc.
- Help with planning at the school and district level for next few days.
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- Develop messages for use with state and local media. The association has access, through NEA, to school safety statistics. Click here for sample media messages. Click here for school safety statistics.
- Send email alert to members across the nation informing them of the situation and response. The association is key in communicating the facts to members nationwide and giving them advice on how to help and what to do in their own schools and districts.
- Activate crisis guide links on Web site. Put crisis guide materials on the homepage of the national, state and local Web sites.
- Provide human resources. Activate communication with others who have experienced crisis and have valuable experiences to share.
- Debrief how association involvement worked. Meet with school and district representatives, local and state association representatives to review what happened, what worked well and what needs improvement.
- Identify a long-term liaison. Who from the local and state association offices will continue to work with association members and school district representatives?
- Learn district media protocols. Most school districts have established media policies. Find out how to avoid contradictory or competing information.
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- Seek out people needing assistance and encourage all staff to seek mental health support. Understand that there will be hurt, frustration and misplaced anger, and you can be an objective listener. Provide information on concrete ways the association can help.
- Provide support for staff. Little things, like food, sweets and flowers, show that you care.
- Communicate member needs to district officials, including needs for the Employee Assistance Program or other mental health services to provide for long-term counseling.
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- Provide written materials such as mental health fact sheets and talking points for teachers and other school employees. Click here for sample.
- Offer volunteers to cover phones in affiliate and district offices.
- Keep members informed across the state and nation.
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- Help district and school staff with media relations by channeling requests to speak to association members. Develop media talking points and key messages regarding public education and school safety for school staff. Click here for sample media messages. Click here for school safety statistics.
- Coordinate media contacts with the school district and log all media activities. Make educators’ voices heard by speaking about how society can help troubled youth.
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- Provide guidance to association members on media interviews. Share rights and responsibilities. Click here for sample. Talk about such considerations as do they have a story to tell? Are they comfortable? Are family members and colleagues supportive? Is the district aware of the interview? Are there legal, ethical or mental health consequences of talking to the media?
- Help organize memorial services and back-to-school events.
- Provide ongoing support and recognition for members and other school staff. Sometimes after the first few days, everyone expects to be “normal.” Reassure members there is no perfect way to handle disasters. Encourage staff to take the time to heal. Make personal calls to spouses of staff to see how the family is doing. Encourage use of mental health services.
- Have a liaison at the school to assess needs and provide support.
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- Provide curriculum materials. Click here for classroom activities.
- Bring lunch, cookies and “care packages” to staff.
- Meet with association members after the first day to debrief and learn about what went well and what the ongoing needs are.
- Send personal letter of support to each member at his or her home address. Thank members for their dedication and hard work, and again encourage members to use mental health support.
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- Continue communications with affected members to determine what support is needed. As time passes, people have an unrealistic expectation that everything should be “back to normal.” It’s important to recognize that healing is a long journey, not a sprint, and staff will need ongoing support and encouragement.
- Be advocates for change. Make sure the safety needs of members are being met, and new programs and policies are put in place as needed.
- Provide expressions of caring. Have association liaisons visit the school on a regular basis, bringing goodies or mementos.
- Provide resources. Link members with colleagues in other schools where similar traumas have occurred, so they can share and learn from each other.
- Contact national trauma experts to provide information to staff.
- Check state laws and regulations that govern the collection of donations before developing a process for accepting donations.
- Start a memorial fund. If a member was lost, consider a scholarship fund to honor him or her. Coordinate with school efforts.
- Help with implementation of scholarship funds. Educators know what kinds of scholarships are most useful for their school or district and how to administer them. Offer to help establish a process for operating the scholarship program.
- Ask volunteers to catalog gifts and write thank-you notes. Retired members are eager to help with these types of tasks.
- Work with the school and district to coordinate efforts. If donations and gifts are received by the NEA, make sure there is a process for informing the school and district, determining how to allocate funds, and displaying or storing gifts.
- Participate in planning memorial events. Ask the school and school district how you can help. Contact potential guest speakers. Encourage outside groups and politicians to be respectful and let the school community plan the memorials.
- Assure that the memorial events honor staff, both victims and caregivers.
- Identify symbols that help support the school. By developing a memorial pin or ribbon, the association can show solidarity with the teachers at the affected school. Funds raised can go to meet staff needs.
- Make sure teachers at the affected school receive the memorial pins and ribbons. Sometimes the affected staff members are overlooked as everyone else in the community wears a symbol of remembrance.
- Determine if staff members need their own memorial event. Do members in the local and state associations want to do their own honoring of fallen staff?
- Provide resources from other schools. Other teachers who have experience in memorial events can share their experience and advice.
- Work with the media. You can provide the media with factual information about school safety and how the community has healed as well as recommendations about covering events without retraumatizing victims.
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