Responding to emergencies takes two things: leadership and communication. Are you prepared? Mike and Jenn had a truly productive conversation with school preparedness expert, Chris Joffe.

He talked about everything from why leaders need to start with themselves and understand how THEY respond to emergencies. He also shared that one of the essential keys is having an emergency org chart and teams to deal with the wide range of emergencies your school might have.

Throughout it all, Chris emphasized that humans and relationships are key. Why? Because “emergencies require people to respond.” Unfortunately, his data shows that the vast majority of emergencies are an escalation of an event – an incident in school that leads to fights, weapons, or even worse, a school shooting.

To learn more about Chris and the services Joffe Emergencies provides for school: https://www.joffeemergencyservices.com/

Chris has offered to do a free workshop for subscribers to THE MAIN IDEA on the emergency preparedness stuff you won’t find in the district handbook – it will be April 7 at 4pm ET / 1pm PT – sign up here (https://forms.gle/TSStmwiAo8jkSmvn7 ) or reach out to me at [email protected]

As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to [email protected]. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment. And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at [email protected].