WRITING A CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS PLAN: INS AND OUTS

REBECCA M. VILLARREAL, APR, FELLOW PRSA

In my role as a communications professional, I follow the RPIE process for tasks both big and small. Research, Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation will guide you through any crisis as well. This article takes you through the first three steps in this process. Evaluation is an essential part of this process and should not be skipped. Measuring the success of a program and reanalyzing for the future is something we all should be doing every opportunity we have.

When you are entering a crisis or presented with a crisis, you can do your research quickly but don’t overlook this step. The first step is to find out the facts surrounding the situation and then confirm with more than one source. When I get a call from my supervisor about the situation, I confer with at least two more sources to corroborate the information. This might mean a student, law enforcement, your safety director, or an employee. I will talk to no less than three people to make sure I have all the information correct. When I craft the message, I want to make sure it is accurate and don’t speculate or assume at any point in the process. Being timely is also important, but accuracy is key. During this period, take a moment to dig into your document vault, exploring any correspondence from past events that might serve as inspiration. Should the need arise, consider dedicating time to connect with a reliable colleague within the industry, seeking their valuable opinions or insights. Most recently, my school district had an incident that had occurred a few weeks previous in another district. I called my counterpart, and she gave me advice and shared her letters. These were invaluable when the time came to send our message.

Once you’ve done your research and factgathering, you will go into your planning step to decide what information can be shared as well as the audience(s). This means that you will have to take the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) into consideration as well as confidential or medical information. If you are dealing with a personnel issue that is ongoing or just getting started, be sure to consult directly with the Human Resources department to verify what information can be released and when. If you are dealing with a student issue, this will involve parental consent if any information is sensitive or medically-related, such as suicide, hospitalization, death, etc. If law enforcement is involved, then you will need to ensure you are not releasing any information that would impede their investigation or preempt what they want out in the public.

For instance, if a student is detained at school after making a terroristic threat, then confirm that your notification is in sync with their timeline. If they detain a juvenile, the student’s identity is protected. If the student is an adult, their name may appear in a police report that is available to the public and the media. I do not recommend putting identifiable information in the announcement. Instead, put vague details to keep you from also violating FERPA regardless of the age of the student. (i.e., A male student who attends Anytown Middle School was detained by the Anytown Police Department and charged with making a Terroristic Threat.)

Now that you have facts and some inspiration, you must quickly think through your audience(s). I live in a smaller, tight-knit community. If something happens at our high school that is credible, we will share the message district-wide. For instance, a lockdown with a reported threat will affect campus and district operations on a larger scale outside the sole campus. If the incident was contained and no threat was found, we may opt to keep it at the campus level with the notification. Our notifications are based on priority, and we will always start with employees, then parents, then media, and community members. Having your internal audience, your employees primarily, with the correct and factual information is key. They can dispel rumors and will help calm parents when they make contact with them. Your staff members are a trusted source of information.

Now it’s time to draft your message - the implementation step. There are some key components I recommend including:

• Opening Statement with the 5 W’s (Who, What, When, Where, Why) that includes your voice and the appropriate tone

• Show Sympathy when necessary

• Own it and apologize, if necessary

• Provide Resources

• Give details that are allowable

• Show gratitude when appropriate

• Reinforce your commitment/Share your plans

• Close with contact information

Now that you have a draft version of the message, you can copy and edit it for any other audience you plan to send it to. Be sure to get someone to look at it before you send it, not only to proofread and edit but give you honest feedback. Ask them, does this make sense to you? Should I add anything? Am I leaving anything out? When writing for another subgroup like employees, you may have additional information to share with them that is not meant for parents or the general public. Just know that whatever you send to the parents will get copied and posted online or shared with the media. This is not always a bad thing, but you don’t want to get caught sending different messages. Also, different information is important to different audiences. If you are telling parents you are having an unplanned early dismissal, it will impact each student differently. Be sure to include messaging to address each scenario (i.e., transportation, afterschool programs, athletics, tutoring).

Once you have your messaging ready for each audience, test it for length and translate it. Most mass notification systems and social media channels have a character limit. You will have to shorten your message for text, phone calls, and social media. The best thing is to copy and paste it to see what will fit and then trim it down as needed. In texts and social media posts to make it shorter, you can use an ampersand (&) instead of and, shorten dates (Jan. 31), use common school acronyms (Carl Schurz Elementary with CSE) or use punctuation to separate details (colon, dash, vertical bar).

Now that your messaging is ready to go out, send it out on all platforms that are available and appropriate. If it is a student safety issue, consider programming a phone call to go out to parents and a text message. They will want to know right away that they need to pick up their kid early or if there is a change to the school operations. All other notifications can just go as an email if not urgent or merely informative.

You will also need to consider the timing of the notification. If the event took place that day, you would want to get it out that same day (i.e., a kid brought a fake weapon to school, an ambulance called for a student). If the incident is no longer active, you might also consider sending it out after school releases (i.e., a dead bat found, expired food served). A lot of the time, parents will call the school immediately to say they missed a message/ call rather than check their voicemail or email. If you send it during the school day, make sure those answering the phone have a copy of the notice to reference and speaking points. This will give them prepared responses on what they can share and give some peace of mind to the parents that call in. The last thing they want to hear is “I don’t know?” when they call.

Also, be prepared to communicate frequently with updates if the situation warrants follow-up. This could mean sharing funeral details, rescheduling event details, counseling services, success stories/ good news, or closure to an ongoing incident. Just know that any personal information should be cleared by the student’s parents or the employee’s family before sharing it with your stakeholders.

Finally, if the notification is sensitive, remove the parents or the employee from the distribution list, so they don’t get copied on the details related to their loved one. This is also important to make sure you have a way to remove them from the system immediately if they are deceased. The last thing you want is to send the parent a notice that their child is absent or has an overdue balance in the cafeteria. These little details are important and can make a big difference to the family you want to support during this time.