Time Management Project

Thomas E. Ferrell, Jr.

Virginia Commonwealth University

Ed.D. Cohort
July 16, 2009

Dr. Whitney Sherman and Dr. Mary Hermann

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 Meadowbrook High School’s Crisis Plan Critique

Purpose
The purpose of Meadowbrook High School’s Crisis Plan is to outline procedures and
guidelines to assure that a coordinated response to natural disaster, fire, accident,
violence, threat of violence, serious illness, threat of suicide, and death. As the various
schools across Chesterfield County are different and have their own unique
circumstances, it is appropriate for administrators of each school to sit down each year
and meet with crisis team members to develop this comprehensive plan. This deals with
issues that are specific to that school. For issues that are general in nature, such as
natural disaster, crisis management will rely on the district and its administrators to
follow the district wide plan. When each emergency or crisis is over, the school crisis
teams should evaluate responses and actions taken to improve or recalculate measures
taken as it would benefit the school.

Crisis Team
The Meadowbrook High School Crisis Team consists of the following members:

1. Mr. Thomas E. Ferrell Jr. Supervisor

2. Mr. Tyrus T. Lyles Asst. Supervisor
3. Mr. Shawn A. Abel Evacuation Coordinator
4. Dr. Colleen Bryant Student Accounting
5. Mrs. Kasaundra Blount-Green Communications Representative
6. Mrs. Joey Richeson Activities Director
7. Mr. Lawrence Jones SRO
8. Mr. Ernie Williams Head Custodian
9. Benjamin Snyder Team Member
10. Nytasha Garland Team Member
11. Micah Davis School Counselor
12. Judy Lee School Nurse
13. Deborah Jones SPED Coordinator

Each member has a fundamental responsibility as the team meets at the beginning of the
school year to discuss the crisis plan and implementation if a crisis was to occur. For
example, Mr. Ferrell is the supervisor during any crisis situation. He will head and
communicate the plan of action to all the other members of the team. The Evacuation
Coordinator and Student Accounting person will coordinate, evacuate, and account for all
students and staff. The Communications Representative will make formal
announcements to the public as information is released. The other team members are
from various departments and the school and will be used as deemed necessary by the
crisis team. For any reason that Mr. Ferrell is out of the building and a crisis should
occur, Mr. Lyles will head the team and has been trained on how to address crisis
situations that may occur.

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Content of Meadowbrook’s Crisis Plan
I. Roles During a Crisis
a. Roles
b. Use
c. Flow Chart
d. Communicating with the Media

II. Crisis Management Teams

a. Makeup/roles
b. Staging Areas
c. Critical Incidents Procedures/Checklist
d. Annual Start-Up Procedures
e. Crisis Toolbox Essentials
f. Procedures for Parents Picking up Students
g. Sample crisis letters
h. Crisis Drills

III. Division wide/School Crisis Procedures

a. Medical emergency assistance
b. Lockdown Procedures
c. Death of Student/Faculty
d. Dealing With Suicide
e. Communication with family and public
f. Sample letters for student death
g. Accidents to and from school
h. Individual carrying a weapon in school
i. Bomb threat/telephone/checklist
j. Airplane Crash
k. Fire or Explosion
l. Chemical Spill
m. Gas Leak
n. Natural Disaster
o. Power Failure

IV. Building Level Crisis

a. Medical emergency assistance
b. Life threatening medical crisis
c. Minor accidents at school
d. Child abuse reporting
e. Sexual Assault
f. Medication Overdose
g. Poisoning
h. Allergic reaction
i. Child napping
j. Missing student

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 V. Prevention
a. Early warning signs
b. Risk/Threat assessment
c. Interview
d. Follow-up plan
e. Action Plan

VI. Post Trauma Procedures

a. Post-trauma procedures
b. Crisis team’s steps after the traumatic incident
c. Services to students
d. Crowd control
e. Debriefing of teachers, staff, and crisis team members

VII. Quick Reference Materials

f. Post trauma steps
g. Services for students
h. How to talk and listen to children
i. Elementary and Secondary Crisis Intervention Model
j. Maintaining Crowd control
k. Helping grieving parents, friends, and returning classmates
l. Stages of grief
m. Grief issues for young children
n. Critical incident stress information sheet
o. Common stress symptoms
p. Helpful hints for traumatized person
q. Supporting a child during a traumatic event

Critique of Meadowbrook’s Crisis Management Plan

The crisis plan that we use at Meadowbrook High School is one that is detailed and
specific to our building. Tyrus Lyles, assistant principal, through training, studying the
VDOE crisis manual, and assistance from Tim Mallory, who works closely with schools
on crisis plans in Chesterfield put the plan for Meadowbrook together. As you can see
from the areas that the Meadowbrook plan addresses, that of the VDOE is broad in scope.
The VDOE crisis plan provides guidance on issues that are more global and relevant to
every school in the state. I find this plan to be somewhat lengthy. That’s not to say that
lengthy is negative; I understand that it is critical for the VDOE crisis plan to be
comprehensive as it has to cover all Virginia schools and every situation that a school can
potentially face.

Despite the length and all that the VDOE crisis plan covers, I find it user friendly for any
school administrative team. Overall, when you put the VDOE crisis manual side by side
with Meadowbrook’s, we’re lacking stronger details on how to deal with certain

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situations. For example, we don’t have information on terrorism in the Meadowbrook
manual and that needs to be addressed.

Studio Scenarios

Scenario One

In the first scenario with the reporter at the school event, I stumbled at the point when the
reporter changed the topic. I was disappointed in myself, but I am confident in my ability
to speak in front of a camera. What I found to be most difficult was the fact that I know
Shawn and could not take him seriously initially. During this exercise, I looked happy
because we were celebrating student accomplishments and I made good eye contact with
Shawn, but I got stuck when he changed the subject and I started to laugh. Once I got
back on track, I finished strong.

Scenario Two

I had warmed up to Shawn and completely imagined him as being a stranger at this point.
During this exercise, he played a disgruntled parent. I had seen a ton of those, so this one
was easy. I really looked like I was listening to the parent and I took notes to show that I
was paying attention. Shawn attempted to twist my words in order to get what he wanted
(a class change for his student), but I redirected him to what I actually meant each time. I
showed concern, but I was firm in my decision. I was proud of my body language and
the way I handled this situation.

Scenario Three

I had really warmed up to the assignment by this point. This scenario dealt with a crisis
that occurred in the neighborhood that caused us to have to lock the school down with 10
minutes left in the day. Despite the fact that I was sitting down (which I wouldn’t do
during this situation), I looked very calm and I was very firm. The only advice that
Shawn gave me was to do a more effective job of reassuring a teacher that the actual
crisis was taking place outside of the building. Aside from that, he said I did well and I
thought I did too.

This exercise is one that all administrators should go through. You never know when you
are under the impression that you are having a discussion with a reporter and all of a
sudden they change the subject. We all deal with disgruntled parents, but despite their
feelings we need to show that we care. Finally, a crisis can occur at any point and we
need to show that we can take control of the situation. This was one of the most
beneficial exercises in any graduate class that I have ever taken.

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