Crisis management strategies and organizational response

Crisis Management

Members of the press and media

As you have probably heard, a matter of high concern for our school and community has been brought about by something that happened in our school this week. Our school has been involved in an incident concerning one of our 8th grade students. During a math class, being high on drugs, he pulled a gun on his math teacher, Mr. Smith. Fortunately for those concerned and for all of us, Mr. Smith, an ex-cop, was able to quickly retrieve the gun from the student and could thus discover that, however, the gun was not actually loaded. The student, being under the influence of drugs, meant to do a prank on his teacher. However, this kind of behavior, including the consumption of drugs and other substances, is not and will not be tolerated by our school. Dr. Maria Flores, our school's principal, immediately sent the student home and suspended him until further notice. Being a matter of police competency, she called the local police to school to further investigate the case. Because of the delicate moment and the high concern over the matter, we did not here the student's explanations until a few days later. It is however doubtful that, in his condition, he could have actually provided them for us at that time.

Our high concern over the matter and in an attempt to prevent any further happenings of the kind, we proceeded in searching the lockers of every student for drugs or weapons, with the help of local police and sniff dogs. This was also done as a response to information from reliable sources provided to Dr. Flores stating that the respective student was part of a larger gang using drugs and weapons. This worrying information made us take immediate steps in the stopping of violence and drug use in our school. We will not tolerate anything that will take the school away from its role and status as an oasis in a community where crime and violence is at home. We have also proceeded in installing metal detectors at the school entrance. Perceived by many as a move too harsh, we do not consider it so due to the circumstances: a student entered our school with a gun and, even more than this, did not hesitate to pull it on a teacher. Whether the gun was or was not loaded is not the issue here. The issue is that a violent event could have occurred and it is our job and duty to make sure that our school remains an institution of learning and education. Guns and drugs have nothing to do with either one of them. Even if some parents have made comments about the current situation and have spoken against the installation of metal detectors, we are inclined to take all necessary measure to eliminate any possible form of violence here.