“Don't Say That!” Educators,Crisis Plans,and “Magical Thinking”

In every New Jersey public school, there are bimonthly fire drills. Most schools will never have a need to use this drill, but they do practice. They may be joined in these drills by other community leaders. However, when one compares this proactive approach with the reactive approach to issues of death and grief, it is hard to understand the difference. A lack of crisis response plans related to death and grief in the school community and the unwillingness of many administrators and board members to develop such plans is difficult to comprehend. School systems seem reluctant to discuss possible responses to crises until after such events have taken place. This article discusses this apparent contradiction and includes results of a survey of administrators, teachers, and parents concerning the role of schools in crisis response.