General Public Fact Sheets

Administrators, Support Personnel, and Teacher Roles in Disaster Response and Recovery

Elsewhere we have prepared detailed information on children’s disaster response and recovery and discussed the ways in which schools can play a central role in facilitating the recovery journeys of students and their families, with specific recommendations for teachers and administrators.Following are some additional recommendations for various school-based groups in their disaster-related roles.

Administrators:
• Get input from a crisis team before making decisions
• Conduct faculty meetings
• Verify facts and tell the truth
• Be visible, available, and approachable
• Don’t be afraid to show emotion
• Empower staff and students
• Accept outside help when needed
• Keep everyone updated
• Help the staff understand that the crisis becomes the curriculum, and relax school expectations about such things as homework and dress codes.

Support Personnel:
• Give permission for a range of emotions
• Help faculty first
• Recognize the individual crisis history of each person and the role it may play in each individual’s reaction to the disaster
• Inform and educate parents
• Locate additional help, and keep record of who was seen and any concerns
• Ensure that the people most affected receive ongoing services
• Resist testing/placement immediately after a disaster or relocation, because academic regression is expected.

Teachers:
• Listen to each child’s story, and provide activities to express emotions
• Emphasize coping strategies
• Be patient regarding academic performance, as trauma affects learning ability
• Help students remember positives about deceased friends and loved ones
• Help students communicate with victims’ families or with their own families
• Be familiar with developmental stages of grieving
• Prepare students for funerals and what is to come regarding the rebuilding of their communities.

This material is excerpted and modified from the following sources:

»Brock, S., Lazarus, P., & Jimerson, S. (2002). “Best practices in school crisis prevention and intervention.” »Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

»La Greca, A. (2005). “After the storm: Hurricane season 2005,” available on line at www.7-Dippity.com.

»Poland, S. (1999). Coping with Crisis: Lessons for Schools and Communities. Sopris West, www.sopriswest.com. (pdf)

Kansas State University provides this 3 page article titled Children May Experience
Long Term Effects of Disaster which explores general events that may bring about fear for children, tips for parents, tips for teachers and defines types of violence in the household (pdf).