Francis Parker School Crisis Communication Plan Development

Situation:

With incidents of violence and other emergencies escalating in the nation’s schools, capped by the horror of the Sandy Hook shooting, San Diego based Francis Parker School, a well-established private K-12 school system, engaged Falcon Valley Group to create a crisis communication plan.

Action:

Working with the school’s Communication Manager, Falcon Valley Group assessed the current state of readiness. From the baseline, Gayle Falkenthal applied her expertise to create a plan including protocols, personnel assignments, messaging, scripts, guidelines for working with internal and external audiences, community relations, media relations tactics, and supplemental materials. Francis Parker School’s key leaders can all launch and execute the plan. Upon Board of Director approval, Falkenthal also designed preparedness drills based on likely crisis scenarios. Drills take place every six months using different incidents as the model.

Result

Since the plan was completed, it has allowed Francis Parker School to minimize any negative impact and limit negative media coverage from two significant events.