Is your school prepared for a crisis? An evaluation of emergency response and protocols using an inter-agency, city-wide mock drill

In Portsmouth, VA, a city-wide Mock Drill was conducted to evaluate communication and coordination between school officials and local and federal agencies during the event of a crisis, occurring both within the school (i.e., fire, disruptive student, suicide threat, and shooting) and outside the school (i.e., bus fire, bomb on bus, and hijacked bus). School officials were evaluated on their ability to (a) respond appropriately to each of the aforesaid crises and (b) effectively communicate and coordinate with both local agencies (i.e., police department, fire department, and EMT) and federal agencies (i.e., SWAT). Results indicated that all local and federal agencies received positive evaluations based on their ability to secure both students and staff during the event of a crisis. Furthermore, results indicated that school officials felt that they were adequately trained to appropriately respond in the event of a crisis. Notwithstanding the positive benefits of the mock drill, its implementation demonstrated a need to strengthen communication and coordination between school officials and outside agencies so that future crises can be handled more effectively.