Since September 11, schools across the country have recognized that their old crisis plans designed to help students, staff, and community deal with potential tragedies may not be sufficient.

As Bill Modzeleski, Associate Deputy Under Secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, explains, “After 9/11, the paradigm shifted. No longer do schools only have to plan for what some of us would call ‘traditional crises’— school shootings, earthquakes, and the like—but now they have to plan for nontraditional crises such as terrorist attacks. We are beginning to develop an understanding of how such events affect schoolchildren, teachers, school districts, and communities. We know that unless we learn how to deal with the recovery from these kinds of crises, teaching and learning cannot continue.”

Recently, a group of educators and mental health professionals got together to discuss how traumatic events have affected their schools and communities and some of the lessons they have learned through the response and recovery process.

Planning for Disaster

Dr. Gregory Thomas, executive director of the New York City Board of Education’s Division of Student Safety and Prevention Services, helped engineer the Board’s response to the World Trade Center disaster on September 11, 2001. On that day, eight public schools serving 9,000 students and staff put emergency evacuation plans into action.

Thomas noted that the event taught them a great deal about the importance of crisis planning. “Our safety plans are updated every year and checked once a month, but I caution schools to look at them even more often than that. Make sure it becomes a living document because you never know when a disaster is going to happen,” he said.

“You need to think outside the paper,” Thomas continued. “Our written plan called for children to walk north in an evacuation. Had the principals followed that plan, we would have lost some children due to falling debris. Instead, the principals made the on-the-spot decision to walk south to a ferry. That decision saved lives.”

How can one prepare for such an event? “You plan for the unthinkable by planning for the thinkable,” said Thomas. “The students and staff in those schools got out because of fire drills. They had drills on a regular basis and were able to evacuate because of that. The drills helped because the mindset is the same whether you experience a plane crash, a building collapse, a bomb scare, or a fire. The lesson is: practice, practice, practice.”

Serving Mental Health Needs

In response to the extensive psychological needs of students and staff after 9/11, the New York City Board of Education established the Partnership for Recovery in collaboration with several community-based mental health organizations, hospitals, and academic institutions.

The purpose of the Partnership is to identify the needs of different populations of children; develop the capacity of schools to meet the short- and long-term emotional needs of its children; improve the crisis response process within schools; and coordinate an effort to guarantee clinical and supportive interventions based on best practices and models.

According to Dr. Pamela Sicher Cantor, founder and president of the Children’s Mental Health Alliance, the Partnership found that one in four New York City children in grades 4–12 meet criteria for psychiatric disorders and 75,000 children have symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder. Of these, two-thirds had not received any sort of assistance.

In response to this overwhelming need, the Partnership created a multi-layered system to reach as many children, parents, and staff as possible. This included expanding training on effective practice with children who have experienced trauma and developing a public health education campaign to alert parents about where they can go for services.

There are many barriers to this effort, Cantor explained: “Within the community, there is a shortage of culturally sensitive services, insurance caps that do not allow for proper treatment, and the burden of stigma which greatly limits the use of mental health services that do exist.”

However, the Partnership is committed to overcoming these barriers to recovery. “We believe that there are strategies that exist to address these problems in the short-term, as well as the longer-term timeframe,” Cantor said. “The near-term objective is to simply get services to children. The longer-term goal is the creation of a new program and an absolute increase in capacity.”

Understanding the Impact of Trauma

Dr. Robin Gurwitch, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, specializes in work with children, particularly those considered at-risk. Since the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City, Gurwitch has devoted much of her time to understanding the impact of trauma and disaster on children.

In the past, Dr. Gurwitch explained, educators and health professionals had an incomplete understanding of the effects of trauma on children. It was believed that children’s reactions to trauma were mild and fleeting, and that no special interventions were needed. Now, experts recognize that children often experience profound responses, ranging from changes in sleep, appetite, and school performance, to full-fledged post-traumatic stress disorder.

Gurwitch recommended several steps schools should take to help students cope after a crisis. Schools should:

• Educate teachers and staff about children’s typical reactions to trauma.
• Directly address the event.
• Correct student misperceptions or maladaptive behaviors.
• Help teach students anxiety management skills.
• Help teach students cognitive coping skills.
• Conduct parallel components for parents and caregivers.

Emphasizing Flexibility

Jamon H. Kent, superintendent of the Springfield, Oregon, school district, helped lead recovery efforts in the aftermath of a May 1998 school shooting at Thurston High School in which two students were killed and 22 were injured.

He explained that Springfield learned many important lessons about crisis planning and response. “A crisis plan is essential,” he said. “The plan should be both short and user-friendly. An alternate communications system is also a must, because anything can happen. In our situation the phone lines were jammed.”

“Crisis is not the time for egos,” he continued. “Schools must let officials do their jobs. Be flexible and recognize that normal routines will not be possible. Outside agency cooperation is a must.”

Cathy Kennedy Paine, Springfield’s special services coordinator and crisis response team leader, explained that the incident had far-reaching effects that affected the mental health of teachers, students, and staff throughout the school district. It disrupted their coping and problem-solving capabilities, destroyed their sense of safety and security, and resulted in a heightened sense of vulnerability and helplessness.

According to Paine, mental health supports need to be part of every school’s recovery plan. “Now, more than ever, it is imperative that every school in America have a safe school plan and the resources to adequately support students and staff in the aftermath of a crisis,” she said.