Its (Just) Another School Shooting...

“Losing your head in a crisis is a good way to become the crisis.” 
 ― C.J. Redwine, Defiance

When the concept of crisis communication really became a thing, the great communicators and businessmen and women who came up with this concept did so because of issues in relation to their companies and products.  They needed a way to communicate with the public when something had gone wrong, to bring order back to their business and restore their reputation.  Although scholars claim there is no one clear definition of crisis, many use similar features (Kim, 2015, p. 60).  Barton (as cited in Kim, 2015, p. 60) defines crisis as "a major unpredictable event that has potentially negative results.  The event and its aftermath may significantly damage an organization and its employees, products, services, financial condition, and reputation."  I am guessing when they coined the term crisis communication, no one even considered the possibility that our school principals, deans, school superintendents, mayors, police chiefs, etc. would have to use it as they faced the nation over and over again because of countless school shootings.   

When I was growing up in school, we didn't worry about crazy students and rogue community members coming into our schools and shooting us.  We didn't worry about turning on our televisions or radios every single day and hearing the media and our politicians repeating those same worn out words...THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS.  Principals and teachers were able to come to school to teach us, and guide us and mold us into the decent, respectful human beings we were meant to be.  Sure, we had bullies and problems.  Its not like we lived in black and white television and solved all our problems with milk and cookies and a hug or a handshake.  But we also didn't have to worry about coming to school and being fearful of guns in the hallways - especially not as grade school students.  

The day after the massacre, Columbine High School students gather outside their school to pray and place flowers on the ground.

That was until April 20, 1999.  That was the day it really changed.  Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado was the scene of a horrific school shooting where two high school students shot and killed 12 of their fellow students and one teacher, and wounding more than 20 others before taking their own lives, all in the span of 16 minutes.  In both the private and public sectors, it really only took one or two major scandals or incidents before the concept of crisis planning and crisis communication was implemented.  Although, before the educational sector really got the hint regarding crisis management and crisis communication, there were several mass school shootings (3 or more deaths) that took place before Columbine.  Columbine was basically the straw that broke the camel's back, the situation that made everyone decide that something had to be done.

Crooms (as cited by Kim, 2015, p. 61) describes crisis communication as "the collection, processing, and dissemination of information required to address a crisis situation."  Considering Columbine took place in 1999, before social media, how did the police, school officials and the media get correct information out to each other, to the parents, and to the public in an efficient manner?  Because of the size of this incident, various agencies from multiple jurisdictions were called in to assist.  Most of the jurisdictions used different radio frequencies and channels, which complicated matters some, because they didn't typically work together on such a large scale.  When in the building searching, they had a very difficult time for many reasons.  It was very loud because the fire alarms were going off, students were screaming and crying and running around, there was smoke and fire from explosives that had been set off by the suspects, the sprinklers were spraying everywhere, and the police and SWAT officers were on different radio frequencies making it nearly impossible to communicate with the command post set up outside the school.  At the same time, the police knew the students rushing out of the school were going to be some of their best witnesses.  But they needed to determine what was the correct information as they were getting several conflicting reports, and also ensure none of them were the suspects.  They had to set up triage stations for the wounded and get the severely wounded students to the hospital ASAP.  It was very important for the situation to stay managed and under control.  There were three men essentially running the show: 

Lt. Terry Manwaring, SWAT commander for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office; Sgt. Phil Hy of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and Lt. David Walcher.  Walcher was uniquely qualified to handle the incident command role because he was thoroughly SWAT trained.  He had been with the Jefferson County SWAT team for seven years, coming off the team exactly one year before the Columbine incident.  Walcher was also the second ranking Jefferson County officer currently at the scene, and he would manage the incident minute to minute as it unfolded managed by using a structured Incident Management System (IMS).

By 4:00 PM that afternoon, the sheriff and Public Information Officer held a news conference to provide the media and the public with their best estimate (at the time) as to the number fatally wounded, and lay to rest some of the false narratives going around.  The parents of the missing students as well as any students looking for their parents were all eventually sent to an elementary school with counselors and victim advocates to await the arrival of their family or news of their loved ones.  The counselors tried calling the hospitals to get information on the injured students, so their parents could be taken to meet them.  Lists were posted at the school and updated regularly as information came in regarding student conditions.  Because there was such chaos when the shooting happened, students pretty much got out when they could.  Then, they ran to a safe place if able.  So, many students' whereabouts were unknown for much of the rest of the day.  The three days following this tragic shooting at Columbine High School, dispatchers from various law enforcement agencies were required to work 12-hour shifts in order to ensure all calls coming in by the media and the community were being answered properly.  

The sad reality is, there have been so many school shootings since Columbine, that they have started to run together.  But what have we, as communicators, learned from this event?  Although we still have a long way to go in many areas, our schools have taken Columbine, (as well as others since) and started to develop plans for telling students and faculty what to do if a school shooting were to ever happen.  And with the creation of social media, crisis communication has been taken to a whole new level, both good and bad.  For the situation of school shootings, it has helped tremendously in many ways.  When the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School happened last year on February 14, 2018, Twitter was used regularly along with news conferences to keep the public and media updated, as to what was going on regarding the victims and the investigation in the days following the shooting.  School security consultant Ken Trump (not related to the President) said, "It's the lack of communication or inconsistent communication that creates increased anxiety."  

Social media has also given the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (and other schools as well), a platform to express their feelings regarding the situation and gun violence.  The students have used this crisis to take a stand and show the world they will not let this break them.  But because of social media, it has also opened the door for negative criticism about the sheriff's department, the FBI and politicians.  Like I said, social media has its good and bad, depending on which angle and which side you are on.  Although I don't think anyone can truly prepare for something like this to happen, maybe, just maybe, in the last 20 years since Columbine has happened, we have been able to learn a little something from each and every one of these mass school shootings. So if we can't predict them, then we might as well use our crisis communication tools as efficiently as possible and make these tragic and painful events as orderly and seamless as possible. 

“Through each crisis in my life, with acceptance and hope, in a single defining moment, I finally gained the courage to do things differently.” ― Sharon E. Rainey 
     



Reference

Kim, Young. (2015). Toward an Ethical Model of Effective Crisis Communication. Business and Society Review, 120 (1), pp. 57-81.