Plain Language in School Transportation Emergencies

August 19, 2015 by

Are You Using Plain Language?

The first in a line of students boarding their morning school bus whispers to the driver, “Johnny’s got a knife!”. The driver now faces a set of critical decisions within the next few seconds. What steps can he take that would not further complicate the situation? Should he immediately notify someone, call for help? If he uses plain language, will it initiate a confrontation?

Plain language to communicate!

Source: Racine County Eye

Current Practice?

Many fleets use codes to communicate the existence of a situation on their bus. I found this was the procedure in our school’s transportation department after taking responsibility for the fleet. If a driver suspected a weapon was on the bus, they would radio in to the base that they were “invited to the wedding.” This would alert the base, who would then call 911.

One of the reasons given to me for this practice was that alerting the person that help was on its way would cause them to act rashly. Another was that openly communicating the threat could traumatize children riding in other buses who could overhear the broadcast. I understood their reasoning, their desire to keep things from escalating, and the powerful need to protect children from harm. But, was it really in the best interest of the students and did it align with the best approach to dealing with such a situation?

Plain Language is best!

The gold standard of planning is the National Incident Management System (NIMS). It is the framework provided by the Department of Homeland Security for state and local entities. It prepares them to mitigate, respond to and recover from a hazard. The reason for the development of NIMS is to achieve inter-operability across agencies, jurisdictions and disciplines. At the local level, this requires communicating clearly, concisely, and in plain language, so authorities can prepare and respond in the most effective manner.

If there is someone with a weapon, authorities need to know the type of weapon and any other pertinent information. The use of codes can cloud their understanding of the actual situation and events. The faster the response, the less likely events will get out of hand. Every complication increases the time it takes to prepare and get the right people in the right place. Using a code limits the information that can be passed and is open to interpretation, which can add a large degree of uncertainty as to what is actually occurring.

 Simplify, Simplify, Simplify!

Research shows that a person under stress experiences numerous symptoms, among them a decline in cognitive function. They begin to lose the ability to think clearly. At such time, complications like a code only makes things more difficult for them.

During a critical moment on the school bus, the driver’s world narrows down to their bus and the person with the weapon. What a driver needs in such a high stress situation is simplicity. The fewer decisions they have to make, the more likely the choices made will be the right ones. Trying to remember a long list of procedures and codes is not something conducive to clear thinking.

The acronym often used in emergency planning is KISS, and plain language helps keep things simple.

 

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Back to School – Time to Review Your Safety Plans

August 12, 2015 by

Back to School

School districts around the country will be welcoming students back to classes. For most children it will seem like a fresh start, with new clothes, lockers and teachers. A new beginning can also mean an opportunity to start things off right; that should especially include emergency planning.

Back to school time is the perfect time to review the changing dynamics of a schools environment. New faces of staff, students and parents could mean a change in threat potential within the school’s population. Reviewing emergency procedures can help ensure they meet the needs of the school’s current situation.

Back to school is the time to review your plans.

Back to school time? Time to review your emergency plans!

Identify Risks

Last year’s school shooting at Reynolds High School in Oregon shows how important it is that schools are prepared to deal with new and emerging types of threats. Regular risk assessments help to identify new potential hazards and ways to mitigate them. Such assessments can also ensure resources are being directed effectively.

Create/Edit Emergency Plans

You can’t know if your emergency procedures are adequate unless you take the time to do a thorough review. A decision may be reached to keep the plan the same, edit it to address the current risks, or end a plan. Whether changes are made or not everything should be well documented, as you may have to defend your action later. This would be especially true when ending coverage of any potential threat.

Practice Life-Saving Steps

Everyone in an emergency has a role to play, which begins with keeping themselves safe. Thus, a school should be training all of its personnel in basic life-saving steps. This can be done in several, free-to-inexpensive ways.  Scenario training is a simple, research-based and effective way to test an individual’s capabilities to make life-saving decisions in the first thirty seconds of a crisis. This can be as involved as the use of a training DVD series like Safe Topics, or as simple as thinking of a scenario, then asking a staff member, “What would you do?” Safe Havens has created The Window of Life to help guide people through these life-saving steps.

Practice Your Plans

Once you have developed a plan, you should find out whether it works or not BEFORE you have to use it.  You do this by conducting exercises.  These can be very involved, but they don’t have to be.  Identify the plan you want to test, and think of a simple, realistic scenario that requires using the plan.  Gather all the stakeholders; first responders, staff, parents, etc., and talk through what it would like like to implement the plan.  This low-intensity process can reveal the plan’s strengths and weaknesses, and can serve as the basis for amending the plan.

Back to school time is an exciting time of the year.  However, don’t let the excitement make you forget to review your safety plans.  Identify your risks, create or edit your plans, make sure your people know their life-saving steps, and practice your plans.  This will help make sure everyone is around to enjoy the next back to school time.

 

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Students Released for not having Measles Vaccines

February 7, 2015 by

Measles Vaccine

Officials at Palm Desert High School in Palm Springs announced January 28 that 66 students from the school were ordered to remain at home through February 9.  They have to confirm they received immunization or show proof of resistance to measles.  This came after a student was sent home January 26 due to a suspected case of the disease. The district initiated the precautionary measure as part of an ongoing measles outbreak.
measles vaccine, mitigation

Masks, along with the measles vaccine, are a good mitigation against the Measles virus.

Measles Outbreak

In January 2015, 102 people from 14 states were reported to have measles. These cases are part of a large, multi-state outbreak linked to an amusement park in California. The CDC has issued a Health Advisory for this outbreak .

There were a record number of measles cases in the U.S. during 2014.  644 cases from 27 states were reported to the CDC. This is the greatest number of cases since measles were eliminated in the U.S. in 2000.

In light of this outbreak, the use of the measles vaccine for children has become a hot-button issue.

Impact on Schools

It is not our intent to tell anyone whether to vaccinate their child or not.  That is a parent’s decision.  But parents should know where public schools stand.

Each state has their own laws regarding statutory requirements for vaccinations.  For example, Indiana’s laws require vaccinations against various diseases such as Hepatitis B, Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR), and polio, among others.

Each state also spells out the various exemptions to these requirements.  Parents should research these exemptions in their states if they feel they should be exempt.

It is important to remember that schools have relatively large populations of children together in a relatively small area.  This increases the probability that any disease can be spread easily from one child to another.  With measles, a disease we had thought had been eradicated, children are at increased risk, and thus the use of the measles vaccine is very important.

Schools need to keep track of the vaccine status, and use other mitigation practices to prevent the disease from spreading.  The use of masks, frequent hand-washing, thorough cleaning practices by the custodians, can all help prevent the spread of any communicable disease.  These practices should be outlined in the school’s pandemic disease plan.

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