Communication's vital in an emergency

A Jacobs High School student's father called police last week after she sent him a text message worried there might be a shooting at the Algonquin school.

It, fortunately, was a case of a technology-fueled rumor mill, not reality. Community School District 300 officials quickly worked with Algonquin police to both protect students and to assure parents there was no imminent danger. They issued a joint news release to the media and that reassuring word quickly spread on both the school's and area newspapers' Web sites.

Still 500 students had stayed home from class last Friday as text messages and e-mails escalated a warning of violence three months after a gunman shattered the Northern Illinois University community, killing five students -- including a District 300 graduate, Ryanne Mace -- and himself.

It's been 20 years this week since Laurie Dann opened fire in a Winnetka classroom. The deadly tolls of Columbine and Virginia Tech are also now sadly part of the American culture as symbols of a violence we once found unthinkable. We no longer send our children off to school and assume they're safe.

It's become increasingly critical for schools and businesses to be prepared to cope with a mass casualty situation, be it from an individual run amok to the devastation of a tornado.

Widely praised for quick and clear communications in the minutes, hours and days after the February shooting rampage at NIU, Vice President of Student Affairs Melanie Magara shared the university's experience -- what worked and what didn't -- with McHenry County and northern Kane County emergency responders, school officials and local media Tuesday.

It is the type of forum all schools and emergency responders should consider. Are we prepared no matter what the incident? Have we done everything we can to ensure we can get the word out? Do we have relationships in place to aid a quick emergency response on all fronts?

Magara said it's vital to have a communication plan in place, practice it ahead of time, and have backups. She said it's essential to use technology to assist the effort, be it cell phones, text messaging, Web sites, or social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

Of utmost importance, she said it's essential to work with the press -- advice we, of course, agree with but not because it makes our job easier. In a crisis, the media plays a vital role to inform parents, friends, the community about what is happening, what is being done to care for the injured, how to get information about loved ones.

Perhaps most vitally, an informed media can effectively debunk rumors and misinformation -- as local newspapers did last Friday when text messaging and the rumor mill created crisis. A well-informed media can, as it did during the immediate aftermath of the NIU shootings, clarify the magnitude of the situation, guide parents and loved ones to contact numbers, help the school communicate with students and parents.

It won't work if the information is wrong or delayed. But as NIU and District 300 so ably demonstrated, using the media can be an effective tool.