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Benchmark: Adverse Situations

Desherae R. Frost

College of Education, Grand Canyon University

EAD 536-O500: Strategic Leadership and Management in the Principalship

Dr. Steven Bebee

August 17, 2022

Benchmark – Adverse Situation

Management and Operational Systems

Adverse situations happen in all sorts of public settings and can happen at any time; and,

oftentimes, they are beyond our control. However, it is in how a school’s leadership and crisis

management team choose to respond that defines a school’s reputation moving forward, and can

potentially affect persistence as well as staff and student morale. It is because of this that during

an adverse situation like a failing air conditioning unit where the temperature is rapidly rising

that a few key decisions need to be made by the leadership team and the facilities manager. One

of the key decisions is if the situation has a quick turnaround. The last thing that we want to do at

Sunset Hills is create a situation that hinders or disrupts instruction too much, although the heat

rapidly rising could very quickly turn into that type of situation. The leadership team should

make the decision as to whether this should be escalated, or if it is a quick fix. Another main

decision that needs to be made is what leadership team is communicating to parents and how

we’re communicating to parents. Moreover, the key decision to move students to another, cooler

area of the school or evacuate needs to be made quickly before students and teachers start texting

their parents and the adverse situation gets blown out of proportion. Additional information that

is needed to inform my decision would be whether other cooler areas of our school that can be

utilized to move students to a safer location, whether we have the budget for a quick fix in lieu of

a larger solution, and what our contingency plan is should the situation escalate.

Human, Fiscal, and Technological Resources

Regardless of whether students and faculty have to moved, immediate communication

should go out and should continue to go out to faculty and staff, so that they can communicate
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effectively with their students to ensure that our leadership and Crisis Management Team is

aware of the cooling situation in the building and are actively working on a solution. In the event

that scholars have to be moved, teachers are to treat it as a safety evacuation and use their

evacuation routes to retreat to a safer place. The expectation is that teachers are posted in the

hallway to help move along students and direct them to the secondary, cooler location.

Additional resources to ensure the safety of students and staff could include the use of

industrial fans provided by facilities and/or swamp coolers as a temporary solution while the air

is being fixed.

Safety and Welfare of Students and Staff

Schools cannot guarantee safety for all students or teachers while at school. Yet, schools

do have a duty to provide reasonable supervision of students and maintain the safety of school

grounds, especially since students are required to be at school under compulsory attendance rules

(Hutton & Bailey, 2007., p.16). Because students are required to attend by law, it is our

responsibility to ensure the safety of our campus and that includes keeping the facilities at a

comfortable temperature in the Arizona heat. Furthermore, under the theory of premises liability,

the law generally requires owners and occupiers of land to exercise a ‘reasonable amount of

care” in providing a safe environment on their premises (School Safety Legal Issues and Laws,

2018). Failure to provide the proper temperature control can lead to students falling ill or worse,

and while on school property, we are legally responsible for the health, welfare, and safety of our

students. Delaying a solution for too long could result in lawsuits relating to student injury.

When it comes to district policy, according to the Arizona School Emergency Operations Plans,

each school or public facility in the state of Arizona shall, “designate primary and alternate on-

site and off-site relocation areas, other necessary response, or recovery sites, and how
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students/staff would be moved and transported (EOP Minimum Requirements, 2022). This is

especially pertinent, especially in the event that we have to escalate to an on-site or off-site

relocation.

Collaboration with Faculty and Community

Possible stakeholders that could be involved in the decision making are the leadership

team, facilities manager, and the crisis management team (which often overlap). Those who are

affected by the decision and potential solution includes students, faculty and staff, and of course,

parents and the surrounding neighborhood, especially if we have to relocate students to an off-

site location.

Solution and Rationale

Solutions for addressing the situation include placing an emergency call to a heating and

cooling professional. While the situation is being assessed, the Crisis Management Team should

walk the building to see if the air is out in other areas in the building, and if it’s cooler in other

areas, if there is a way to accommodate students in those areas safely. If the air is out, then while

awaiting a professional, the temporary fix is to either budget to purchase fans or go to facilities to

see if we can utilize some industrial fans. We could contact our partner schools to see if there is a

portable solution that we can borrow until the climate situation is rectified. Parents should still be

notified of the problem and be reassured that our school is actively working on a solution to the

issue. In the event that we have to go offsite, teachers, faculty and stakeholders will utilize and

implement the evacuation plan that is outlined in their safety response plan folders in every

classroom.
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References

Arizona Department of Education. (2022). Arizona School Emergency Operations Plans.

Phoenix, Arizona; ADE.

Hutton, T., & Bailey, K. (2007). Effective Strategies for Creating Safer Schools and

Communities.

School Safety Legal Issues and laws. Findlaw. (2018, March 16). Retrieved August 17, 2022,

from https://www.findlaw.com/education/school-safety/legal-issues-and-laws-relating-to-

school-safety.html

References
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