SurveyYoda

OK, so, let’s see…

• Unload dishwasher
  
• Load dishwasher
  
• Fold clothes
  
• Make bed
  
• Become apoplectic at the behavior of school and law enforcement officials
  

Huh. How did that last one get on the list. Oh, wait! I remember!

Last week, we received first a text, then a voicemail, and finally and email, each announcing a “stay-in-place” was in effect at the high school our youngest attends. A dislodged ceiling tile in a bathroom was noticed by a staff member, and the resulting look into the ceiling revealed a box of ammunition.

A

Box

Of ammo

Local law enforcement was called in, swept the building using both offices and K-9s. The additional search of the school facility yielded no other contraband. No lockers, bookbags or backpacks were inspected. The email home later that evening took pains to point out that a “stay-in-place” is NOT a “lockdown”, and is one of 8 levels of threat responses (8!!! As a Gen-Xer, I recall only two: fire and nuclear war).

The following day, the following note was found on a door in a girl’s bathroom

The notifications form the school indicated that this was not considered a credible threat, and no actions were taken beyond having already increased the police presence on campus. Shortly after the notifications about this second issue were delivered, my wife and I received the following text from our youngest:

So, off I trotted to the campus (well, careened in my very red midlife crisis supercharged sedan) to wait in line for an hour to pick up my son. While our names and that of our children were taken down and (apparently) used to retrieve our children from their class, no officials provided any details about the process, estimated wait time, or the current state of the investigation. That would have been a great day to be a thief in Culpeper: Every. Single. Cop. was at the high school. But the threat was not credible. And by the time I picked up our son the school parking lot was empty of all student cars. The campus was nearly empty of all students, because just about every parent who could remove their children from the campus (where there was no credible threat) did.

Now, why am I writing about this situation where I normally comment on customer experience, business processes, leadership, and all of my personal gaffs over the course of my careers? Because there are important lessons, both learned and needing to be learned.

The Good

1. Clear, quick initial communication about a serious scenario impacting the school and extended community
   
2. Clear initial follow-up with additional resources appropriately referenced and next steps outlined
   
3. Implementation of the identified next steps
   

The Bad

1. An utter failure to recognize the seriousness of the second incident in relationship to the first
   
2. A complete lack of follow-up communications post-second incident
   
3. No clear plans or forum to address parent and family concerns – it’s been a week, radio silence from school and law enforcement officials
   

From my experience and observation, the school failed to characterize the second incident correctly. In fact, I’d point to the spelling error as evidence the threat was not just credible, but one likely to be followed through on. My frustration has been compounded by the lack of direction and information during and after the second incident. I’m particularly concerned about the absence of communications from the sheriff’s office. Though, to be fair, the sheriff does have some other things he has to deal with. Here’s what I’d like school and law enforcement to take away from this:

1. Early communication should be followed up with good communication. And then some more communication. And then, yeah, some more.
   
2. Brief, and debrief.
   1. It seems to me that the school official, teachers and law enforcement were all well briefed. But I’ve yet to see any evidence of a debrief, and certainly haven’t heard anything about one.
      
3. Invite the community into the analysis and planning
   
4. Do better