Your school should keep "crisis kits" available for use in time of crisis at, or involving, the school. When a crisis occurs, there will not be time to look for the needed information. Each kit should include, but not be limited to, the following items:

• Crisis Response Team Roster (School and Community)
• Building plans (including maps that detail the floor plan, location of security alarm panels and gates, location of chemicals and utility shutoffs, blueprints, photographs of interior and exterior)
• Bus list
• Class lists for checking student location
• Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
• Paper, pens/pencils, markers, masking tape
• Rosters of all staff and other employees containing emergency contact numbers
• Student roster and contact information
• Staff medical cards
• Emergency medical supplies
• Keys, including master keys
• Locations of command post, student evacuation site(s), parent site(s)
• Walkie-talkies
• Cellular phones

Multiple crisis kits should be kept both inside and outside the building to ensure their availability when needed. The crisis kits for your school should be kept in the following locations:

• Principal's office
• Secretary's office
• School administration building
• Additional locations and access such as local police department, local Office of Emergency Management
  NOTE: The Crisis Kit must be updated at least once per school year and all technical equipment checked/recharged regularly.

Developed by Middlesex Co., NJ, Task Force on School Violence
Submitted by Thomas E. Hart, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Diocese of Metuchen

From Issue-Gram, Vol. 12, No. 2, Spring 2002
Copyright NCEA