Focus: Communications
When To Communicate Publicly or Keep Quiet
BY NICOLE KIRBY/School Administrator, November 2020

BEFORE THE PANDEMIC SHUT DOWN the whole world, we all had mini-crisis situations that might shut down a school now and then. As schools have begun to reopen, those situations are once again part of our lives.

As communications director in a school district serving nearly 12,000 students, I often get phone calls like this exchange:

Principal: “Nicole, we briefly went on a hold, with our exterior doors locked, because the police were pursuing a bank robbery suspect near our school, but they caught him and everything is fine now. I’m thinking we don’t need to send anything out because everything in the building kept going and it was only 10 minutes long.”

Me: “Actually, since there was a possible danger in the area, we do need to send something out. I’ll help you with the message.”

Or sometimes the conversation resembles this:

Principal: “Nicole, we had a student pull the fire alarm, so we just treated it like a fire drill and dealt with the student. There was no danger, so we don’t need to send anything out, right?”

Me: “Well, was anybody worried?”

Principal: “Actually, we had several students who were a bit scared, but we explained it to them, and they’re fine now.”

Me: “They are likely to talk about it when they get home, and their version is likely to be much more upsetting to their parents than the truth. We do need to send something out. I’ll help you with the message.”

Operating Openly

These principals are not trying to hide anything — they are just concerned they will scare everyone unnecessarily. But I try to help them see that this is a matter of transparency and integrity, and I tell them about my two-question test:

»No. 1: Was anyone in danger?

If anyone beyond the small number of people involved with a situation was in danger, we owe it to their families to let them know, even if everything turned out fine. If it was your child in danger, you would want to know.

»No. 2: Does anyone think someone was in danger?

Even if everyone was completely safe, consider the rumor mill. Were all the emergency vehicles outside, right in the middle of the car rider line at dismissal? Did someone post a concern on social media? Have you already received a couple of phone calls? How many people know about the incident? Are people likely to talk about this?

If people think their children were in danger, we have the same obligation to notify them, even if they are wrong.

Preventing Hysteria

Your school communication professional will tell you that you are much better off being the first to tell your story rather than letting someone else tell it for you. So if the answer to either question in this test is yes, you need to get your message out quickly.

If the answer to both questions is no and you have parents who still think they should get a notification, you might have a case of Nosy Nelly. If they know their child is safe, they don’t need an alert. The grey area here is how they are defining “safe.” If they are stretching it a bit, remember that you cannot notify parents every time there is a discipline issue.

Remember, if FERPA or a police investigation or your human resources policies keep you from giving very many details, a vague message can be more agitating than no message, so give as much information as you can. Often, if you speak in hypotheticals, you can say enough to calm parental nerves (“If someone were to violate our policy on XYZ, our procedures call for us to do ABC.”).

In the end, the good feelings from this open, transparent approach will outweigh having to answer a couple of phone calls with questions. You’ll likely get comments such as “Thanks for keeping our kids safe!” and “Thanks for letting us know!”

Deciding to communicate does not cause hysteria. Done well, it usually prevents it.

NICOLE KIRBY is director of communication services in the Park Hill School District in Kansas City, Mo. Twitter: @kirby310