The Trusted Authority for Starting, Improving, & Selling Private Schools: Is Your School Prepared For Disaster?

Hi Inner Circle Member:

It is amazing how quickly a year goes by. Christmas is here in less than 2 weeks. At our house we are in full flow with school concerts and community choir events. Last Sunday both my kids sang in a beautiful community choir with over 300 singers on the Orpheum Stage. Now that gets you in the spirit.

My father always gauged his success every Christmas, looking at his achievement and his family. Of course he grew up in the depression and knew what having no money really meant. For me, I gauge my year by how I have helped others make their dreams come true in starting their own school or having helped schools become better learning environments. It is true that I help leaders operate and govern their schools better, but in reality this is to make the school a better place for young people to learn and to be better people, and a safer place to learn.

Today’s eNewsletter is focused on how you can be better prepared to make your school a safer plan and how to plan for life’s unplanned emergencies.

Enjoy the eNewsletter,

Doug Halladay
President and Founder
Halladay Education Group Inc.

www.HalladayEducationGroup.com

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In This Issue

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1. In The News

2. Can Your Board Do Better?

3. Is Your School Prepared For Disaster?

4. Products To Invest In

5. Inner Circle Thought of the Week

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1. In The News

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Europe's Most Expensive Boarding Schools

Forbes - NY,USA

Ah, boarding schools. Cold showers, tasteless food and regimental matrons bent on making students' lives a living hell. Not anymore. ...

NGO Works to Improve Muslim Education in Nigeria

Voice of America – USA

"We would want to see skills development within the Almajiri schools. We would want to see boarding facilities developed within the tsangaya schools and ...

How Bad is Education in Hawaii?

Hawaii Reporter - Kailua,HI,USA

Also, those who can afford to send their children to private schools still have to help pay for the miserable public school system as well, even when they ...

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2. Can Your Board Do Better?

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Do you want your private school or nonprofit to be more successful in board governance? If so, our full-day governance workshop help your board fine-tune their performance and prime them for the coming year. Please email me at info@halladayeducationgroup.com or call us at 604-868-0002 to find out more about how we can help you with:

If your board is not performing as effectively as you need, or you want to make it better, you are not alone. Discover a way to help your trustees become an exceptional governance unit – quickly, measurably, and easily. The solution is my…

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3. Is Your School Prepared For Disaster?

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ARE YOU PREPARED FOR A DISASTER?

As a former Head of School, I feel great empathy for schools that have to deal with a crisis. It may involve students being put into hazard on an outdoor education trip, a student seriously harming themselves, an intruder in the school, or a natural disaster putting your students in harms way.

I’ve been Head of a School whose experienced the after shocks of 911, the unexplored perils of SARS, run-away boarding students, and a parent collapsing from a heart attack on campus. These are all very emotional situations that need a calm, responsive, proactive plan to deal with the situation immediately.

And your school needs this too! You need to put together your response plan, so that your students and staff are safe, your community is informed, and your institution can move forward. You need to be prepared for every kind of situation, and have a sequential, logical system in place to move forward.

These crisis situations can catapult students and staff (and parents) to the emotional edge, but you have to have a contingency plan for every event. Schools and non-profits are not immune to disasters.

Here are five tips to get you started toward handling any crisis effectively.

1. Start Now

Most schools will need a disaster to force them to put together a crisis plan. For many schools, the unneeded deaths of the senior students at Alberta’s Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School on a winter outdoor education trip was a wake up call for Canadian private schools. Instead, look at all the scenarios of disasters that could occur to members of your community, within and outside the school, and then begin to put together a flowchart of response steps. Take a look at other schools to find out what they are doing, or what impacted them. Or even better, assign a member of your staff to lead the project.

2. Be Adaptive

When I was the Head of a girls boarding school (yes me), many situations arose where a response plan needed to be put into place. To say the least, even though every situation was different, many of the crisis response steps were similar. It could be a fire in the residence, an intruder on campus, a world-wide catastrophe, or students who decide to run away. You need to prepare for as many as you can imagine, and have a structured system of response. If you can imagine it, it will eventually happen.

3. Develop A Crisis/Communication Plan

You need to take the time to develop a contingency plan for every theme for crisis: physical disasters (earthquake), human (suicide, death), structural (fire), off campus (field trips, overnighters), and on and on. You will also need to develop a risk management program to deal with loss of life, property, and insurance issues. Additionally, your plan needs to include a communications plan, which will involve identifying a spokesperson, developing press releases, setting up a media hotline, and finding a place where you can have a press conference. Within this plan, you will need to set up a flowchart of who to call (staff, Chair, lawyer, local officials, doctor, etc.).

4. Be Prepared to Talk

At every crisis, your community needs to hear from you. Even if it is to say that you have nothing say at this point. You need to fill that void, or someone else will. For legal reasons you may be apprehensive to say too much, but you need to plan to say what you can. Also, remember that first impressions are important, and you are dealing with human emotions, so you need to show that you are concerned, and that you care. Above all else, tell the truth. Misinformation will come back to bite you. Do not put off talking to the media, they will fill the vacuum, and it is far better to provide helpful information. I am not a media expert, but those I have heard talk in this field claim that you need to prepare your key message(s) and return to them over and over. Media want sound bites

5. Provide Media Training

Do not wait until a disaster happens. It never hurts to have training in working with media. You should make it a part of your board and administrative team training. You may have a member in your community who works in public relations or the media who can prepare you for the onslaught of media when a disaster strikes. Even as a process, it will be helpful to you as a communicator.

If you want me to come in to do an assessment of your Crisis Management system and present recommendations call me at 1-604-868-0002 or email me at info@halladayeducationgroup.com

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4. Products To Invest In

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1. Independent School Formation: The Critical First Steps

2. 9 Secrets To Starting A US Charter School

3. 8 Golden Rules of Starting a Junior School

4. Starting a Successful Private Senior School from the Ground Up

5. 10 Steps To A Winning Strategic Plan

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5. Inner Circle Thought of the Week

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Groaners

1) King Ozymandias of Assyria was running low on cash after years of war with the Hittites. His last great possession was the Star of the Euphrates, the most valuable diamond in the ancient world. Desperate, he went to Croesus, the pawnbroker, to ask for a loan. Croesus said, "I'll give you 100,000 dinars for it."

"But I paid a million dinars for it," the King protested. "Don't you know who I am? I am the king!"

Croesus replied, "When you wish to pawn a Star, makes no difference who you are."

2) Evidence has been found that William Tell and his family were avid bowlers. However, all the Swiss league records were unfortunately destroyed in a fire, so we'll never know for whom the Tells bowled.

3) A man rushed into a busy doctor's office and shouted, "Doctor! I think I'm shrinking!!" The doctor calmly responded, "Now, settle down. You'll just have to be a little patient."

4) A thief broke into the local police station and stole all the toilets and urinals, leaving no clues. A spokesperson was quoted as saying, "We have absolutely nothing to go on."

Smile and enjoy the day.

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To your success,

Douglas Halladay
President and Founder

Halladay Education Group Inc.
4316 Arthur Drive, Ladner, BC, Canada, V4K 2W8
P: 604.868.0002 / F: 868.472.8737 / Email: info@halladayeducationgroup.com