Crisis planning and crisis communication in the public schools: Assessing post columbine responses

Abstract

This study examined the State of Michigan's legislative response to school violence. In late 1999, the State enacted requirements that each school develop a crisis response plan. Data from 140 schools regarding the number of internal and external constituencies involved in the planning, the scope of the plan, and the number of crisis mitigation strategies included were used as crisis plan comprehensiveness (CPC) measures. CPC measures were correlated to level of risk, previous crisis, and district size. Results suggest that planning effectively for crisis is a complex process interacting with factors such as school size.