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Over the last few years, we have been horrified by incidents of violence in our schools, all too often perpetrated by one or more students. The immediate trauma of injury and loss of life is often made worse by confusion and disarray. School administrators, teachers, district officials, local law enforcement, and medical emergency agencies all try valiantly to carry out their essential responsibilities, but too often there is little coordination and there are no guidelines to distinguish respective duties and areas of responsibility.

In response to a need for guidance in developing emergency preparedness plans, the Agency for Instructional Technology (AIT) in Bloomington, Indiana, and the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township, Indianapolis, Indiana, a leader in the development of comprehensive emergency preparedness plans, worked together to produce a video kit called Youth Crises: Planning the Response to Hostage Taking, Shootings, and Suicides. These materials were designed to help school districts design their own crisis-response plans. They provided detailed guidelines to three kinds of crises.

Many districts have now either developed crisis plans, or at least are in the process of drafting such plans. The current kit, Youth Crises II: Play It Safe—Plan for Crises, was developed by AIT with support and advice from the Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy. This material introduces district personnel to the features of local plans and/or provides them with guidelines for review and evaluation. Youth Crises II suggests models for fleshing out draft or incomplete plans; for training school staff as well as district personnel in their responsibilities during various crises; and for adding guidelines for handling specific emergencies in addition to those dealt with in AIT's 1997 Youth Crises.

Video Kit

This kit consists of a 40-minute videotape and a manual for workshop leaders.

The Video

The video, Youth Crises II: Play It Safe—Plan for Crises contains the following segments, each presenting a simulation of a crisis that could occur in school settings.

Bomb Threat

After an introduction by Dr. Suellen Reed, Superintendent of Public Instruction in the State of Indiana, the video presents the first potential crisis situation—a bomb threat phoned in to the school office. The video demonstrates how this call is handled, the steps leading to a decision to evacuate the school, and the proper technique for first scanning and then searching the building for a possible suspicious device.

School Shooting

The second video segment dramatizes an incident involving an apparent shooting and suicide in a school building. It shows how a school lockdown is imposed, and it illustrates the actions of the school nurse and security officer in aiding victims and securing the site.

School Fight

The third video segment portrays a fight between two students in a middle school and demonstrates the techniques used by staff members to disperse the crowd, break up the fight, and discipline the two students afterwards.

Education and Prevention

Classroom The final segment provides glimpses of various aspects of one school district's program for creating safe schools through early education and prevention programs. Viewers observe first graders being introduced to basic safety issues and fifth graders learning about sexual harassment and bullying. The video underlines the importance of such education and prevention programs in the lower grades as a means of helping to prevent violence in upper grades.

Facilitator's Guide

This workshop facilitator’s manual contains models for some of the kinds of information, guidelines, and checklists that are essential to school's crisis response plans. Together with the videotape, it supports a video-led workshop designed to help school administrators and other concerned professionals create, review, and refine plans for crisis intervention and follow-up. The workshop lays out the key elements that such plans must all encompass, and provides tools, guidelines, and models for training district or school staff to respond promptly and constructively in a crisis or traumatic situation.

The manual has several parts.

This first part, "Preparing for the Workshop," will help school leaders decide who should attend and what preparations should be made in advance. (Sample PDF)
The second part, "Workshop Sequence," suggests an order for the video presentations, discussions, and optional training activities that constitute the workshop. It is assumed that these suggestions will be adapted and modified to fit each local situation. (Sample PDF)
The final section contains blackline masters for overheads and handouts used during the workshop. Workshop leaders may want to substitute similar materials from their local plans for some items. (Sample PDF)

Produced by the Agency for Instructional Technology with the support of Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy