Vacation and a School PR Crisis: Steps Towards Wellness

Written By CEL Marketing PR Design

Hi #k12prwell friends,

Earlier this week, I was responding to a crisis — a principal charged with sexual offenses — while on vacation.

Our #k12prWell network and email service is a great platform to share lessons of wellness, and in this case, reflections on crisis communications.

Let's first start with lessons of school PR wellness:

  • Communication with your family: As soon as my Superintendent of Human Resources called me with the news that charges were coming, I immediately informed my wife. I told her the situation. I also told her that I needed to block dedicated time to work while on vacation to prepare the communications and to take phone calls. She completely understood, but my four-year old son didn’t quite understand. I intentionally made fun moments with him a priority to distract him from the time I wasn’t available.

  • Identify your stress: There’s no clearer time to identify stress than when you’re on vacation – life keeps going even when you want it to slow down. Be aware of it. I had to ask myself a few times: What’s making me stressed? I was concerned that I wouldn’t reach families while on summer break; that I wouldn’t be available for on-camera interviews if the media asked because I was away; or that my response wouldn’t be good enough. The only course of action to combat these feelings were to address them head on. I dug deep into my school PR toolbox to think how best I could expand our reach and ensure families were notified. I also talked to my boss and resolved the concern about on-camera interviews. And I consistently reminded myself of these truths that your best work is enough, regardless of the less-than-ideal limits you might encounter. It’s enough to show up, do your best, and have confidence that you can handle the situation!

  • Time to heal: Until my work around mental wellness and these conversations with #k12prWell, no one really used language like ‘heal’ or 'recovery'. But healing and recovery is essential. From time to time during the crisis response, I physically felt my body change: my mood, my appetite, my energy. I could feel the adrenaline and cortisol rise (increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure) in moments of stress and during the communication. I could feel my body regain levels of normal after the response that evening and the even more the next day. Paying attention to the signs in your body is important to know what your body needs to restore wellness.

Lessons of school PR to get through a crisis:

  • Preparation pays off: In this response, I had time to prepare communication. The more prepared you are, the better the outcome. For example, media appreciated our district statement the moment police issued theirs.

  • Always have your emergency PR kit with you: Laptop, charger, battery pack, cell phone with hotspot capability. A vacation spot isn't always the best place to access wifi.

  • Digital resources: Access to online files, templates and material from similar situations are essential. Build your issues-response bank to have at your fingertips. If you don’t have templates when a particular issue happens, tap into your school PR network of colleagues and friends. Someone is always here to help!

  • Rely on your team: I had a member of my team, also on vacation, help with the phone notification set-up. The front-line staff covering at the district’s head office were also great in monitoring social media reaction and disseminating script messages.

  • Leverage police partners: This was a police matter and as such, they led the initial communications. A strong partnership with the police definitely assisted in the overall alignment of message and outcome of response.

  • Internal: Tactics included a script for a phone notification to school staff directing them to an email about the charges and information to their employee assistance program (EAP), scripts for front-line staff to handle concerned parents and media, an issue note for trustees and senior leadership (an issue note includes status, key messages, confidential background, stakeholders impacted, and next steps).

  • External: Tactics included a public statement by the district, a detailed letter to the school community, crisis support to families, a script prepared for the phone notification service, media availability, information on board and school website, and a social media strategy.

An issue management plan of this nature must communicate supports to help families cope. If your district doesn’t have a mental health/wellness section on your website or campaign to reference, please consider one (for several reasons!). The following items were essential in this crisis communications:

If anyone finds themselves in a situation where a staff member is charged with an offense – sexual or other, please contact me at smckillo@hwdsb.on.ca and I will be pleased to share any templates with you.

Be well!

Shawn

#k12prWell

Shawn McKillop, APR | @ShawnMcKillop on Twitter

Kristin Magette, APR | @kmagette on Twitter

CEL Marketing PR Design
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