Crises Management in Public Schools

Review of Crisis in Public Schools throughout the United States Throughout the United States students in public schools have experienced many crises. Students have witnessed or experienced many different types of crisis which can include: violence, death, accidents, family issues, natural disasters and terrorism. Statistics from the National Center for Educational Statistics (2008) show that in the 2003-04 school year there were 19 homicides and 3 suicides that occurred at school. Outside of school in the 2003-04 school year there were 1,437 homicides and 1,285 suicides of youth ages 5 to 18. According to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System Encyclopedia (2008) in the year 2007, there were
If these feelings persist over a long time and interfere with a person’s daily life, they are experiencing PTSD. Elementary school-aged children show different signs of PTSD than adults. Instead of experiencing flashbacks or amnesia, children experience “time skew” (mis-sequencing trauma related events) and “omen formation” (belief that there were warning signs that predicted the trauma) and may reenact the trauma in play, drawings, or verbalization (Hamblen, 1998). Adolescents resemble the signs of adults, but may also reenact the trauma in some part of their daily life.
Resources for school psychologists in crisis management The National Association of School Psychologists (2000) has a list of website resources that guide school psychologists on various school safety and crisis information. Some resources include: school safety/violence prevention, suicide prevention/intervention, trauma, natural disasters, and war/terrorism materials. One approach the NASP recommends for school psychologists in identifying coping strategies is the BASIC Ph Coping Model by Dr. Mooli Lahad. The model “suggests that people possess six potential characteristics or dimensions that are at the core of an individual’s coping style” (Zenere, 2004). The six coping styles are Belief, Affect, Social, Imagination, Cognitive, and Physiological. There are many organizations and associations listed on the Ed.gov “Emergency Planning” website. It is important for school