It is hard to believe that summer is over and school starts in just about a week! As we approach the new academic year, I thought I should post an update of where we are with our crisis efforts.

Our Crisis Task Force met throughout the summer to keep up the momentum of moving the College crisis planning efforts forward.

• Part of the focus of the Crisis Task Force has been to review the policies and procedures as issues arise. This summer, we conducted a table top exercise on managing a large crowd on campus during inclement weather. Several adjustments to the procedures were made as a result of this table top exercise.
• The Task Force continued to review and update the Emergency Response Manual and the All Campus Crisis Plan. New copies of the All Campus Plan will be available in early September and we will place them in all buildings on campus as well.
• A new condensed publication focusing on crisis information for students, parents, faculty and staff was developed. This card will be distributed to members of the College community this fall.

Community Relations and Outreach.

North Central College is continuing to meet with members of the Community Emergency Response Team to discuss crisis management issues. North Central staff will participate in a training session in September with the City of Naperville and other area companies, institutions and organizations. This crisis management seminar is part of a national program presented by Michigan State University.

Text Messaging System.

The text messaging system was refined and tested in late spring. In-coming first year and new transfer students were encouraged to sign up during orientation and any other faculty, staff and other students will be encouraged to sign up for text message distribution when back on campus.

Desktop alert and notification.
North Central has installed a desktop alert and notification system for College owned PCs and Macs computers. For computers logged into the College network, a message regarding potential crisis situations will automatically pop up on the screen which may also be accompanied by a low volume audible alert. This provides a quick and efficient way to send mass distribution of information.
Mass Notification System.

· A group has been meeting to investigate several mass notification systems designed to provide a siren and voice warning systems. While the government has just announced a series of expectations for these type of systems, it is hoped that something can be in place within the next academic year.

Future Planning

We have a number of plans in various stages of development. Here are a few of the things we are working on during the fall term:

• Conduct a campus fire drill in October, in addition to ongoing drills in the residence halls.
• Develop a new policy and procedure for storm evacuation
• Develop new campus communication procedure
• Implement training for faculty and staff regarding identifying mental health risks
• Identify effective ways to communicate crisis information.
• Provide online training for building leaders and first responders
• Purchase and implement active shooter video training.

Let us know if you have any crisis concerns and check back often for crisis planning updates!

It’s time for another text message test!

In March, we conducted our first test of a text messaging system. We had more than 400 faculty, staff and students sign up to participate in the test. While our internal systems worked, we did experience some delays as the text messages were distributed through individual cell phone vendors.

Since that first test, we have been working with various vendors to remedy the situation and we would like to test the system again. So, for those who participated in the last test, there will be a new text test on May 14 at 4:00 p.m.

As a reminder, as with the previous test, after you receive the test message, it is vitally important to the test that you send us a short email to alerts@noctrl.edu with the date and time you received the text message. This data should be accessible by viewing the message details on your device. If you do not receive a test message, please let us know by sending a message to alerts@noctrl.edu.

It is our hope that the text system will be a program we can fully implement before the fall term. This system will only be used in the case of emergencies or a College closing, but we recognize that this is just one of the several methods we will use to share information about potential emergencies on campus.

Thanks to all who participate!

On April 22, we held two meetings on crisis/emergency preparedness. We had 105 people in attendance!!! Thanks to all who came to the sessions. For those who were not able to get away, I have included a link to the PowerPoint we used.

http://intranet.noctrl.edu/omc/responseplan/staff_pres.ppt

One of the things we stressed in these presentations was the need for the entire campus community to be active participants in any crisis or emergency prevention work we do on campus. I am thrilled to say, that since yesterday we have received a number of comments and suggestions and each and every one will be added to our Crisis Task Force agenda so that we make sure that we address these concerns. Here are some of the concerns raised…along with some general answers. We will follow up with these questions as we continue our emergency response planning.

• Do we provide training on how to deal with volatile students?
  • If you have a concern about a volatile student, contact the dean of students or the wellness center. We will look into doing a training session on this issue.
• How do we respond to parents concerns about safety?
  • We are going to enhance our safety information on our website, develop a list of key messages for those who have most contact with parents and try to include this information at orientation.
• How do we communicate with parents during a situation on campus or even before an incident occurs?
  • We will look into whether we can add parents names to a text or email notification system.
• Could we identify departmental roles in a crisis situation?
  • This is a great idea and we will look to do this over the summer.
• Are there plans for emergency notification and signage on campus?
  • We have a task force who has been working hard at identifying vendors who have the right products for emergency notification and signage on campus.
• Most classrooms now have locks but some areas do not. How do we deal with those areas?
  • Most locks have been added. If you find a room without a lock, submit a work order.
• Can we identify additional building leaders to make sure that we have multiple people in each area responsible for sharing information with the people in their area and building?
  • We will certainly do this as our building leaders are an important part of our preparedness efforts.
• Do we have identified hotline numbers to call in case of an emergency?
  • ITS is already working on this!
• Do we have a way to keep people off campus during a lockdown?
  • We will be meeting with Naperville fire department on a lock down table top and we will certainly develop a plan of how we respond in this unlikely event! We will share the information as soon as it is developed.
• Have we identified any off campus sites that we could use in the event of a situation on campus?
  • Another great idea…and we will look into it!
• How does the campus respond to the media in a crisis situation?
  • Any media call during an emergency (or even NOT during an emergency) should be sent to the Office of Marketing and Communications. Our main number is 630-637-5300.

Keep those ideas and comments coming and thanks for helping us share the information about our emergency response planning!

This week marked the one year anniversary of Virginia Tech–and with it came a series of memorials, crisis planning discussions as well as a few campus closures due to threats on campuses. Seems like there is always something going on.

I guess this means that we can never let up on our planning efforts and how we manage crisis situations. So, in an effort to share information about what North Central College is doing to plan for managing a crisis on our campus, we are offering a presentation on Tuesday, April 22. Here is your chance to learn about what we have done and what we hope to do.

Join us if you can! The same session is offered twice during the day and they will each last about an hour.

• 8:30 a.m. in WAC banquet hall
• 2:00 p.m. in Science 204

Hope to see you!

Immediately after the tornado drill on April 1, we sent out a survey to get a sense of how the drill was perceived on campus. We received 129 responses and of these 93% were on campus at the time of the drill. Of those who were on campus, most (82.1%) reported that they heard the siren and they were in their office at the time (72.6% compared to 8.5% in the classroom and 16.2% somewhere else in a building). One hundred percent stated that they knew where the safe area was in their building. We did note that there are some safe areas identified in buildings that are not in the right place so we need to rework some of those areas.

Within the group who responded to the survey, 57.8% were not responsible for anyone else, 17.2% were responsible for students and 25% were responsible for staff or others people at the time of the drill.

There was considerable discussion, both from those who responded to the survey as well as a debriefing we held with our building leaders, that the sirens, if you knew they were coming could be heard, but most felt that they were too faint and could not be heard at all in at least three of our buildings. In addition, the City of Naperville does not provide an all-clear signal. We are working on getting a radio system so that we have people in every building with access to campus safety in the event of an emergency. We are also looking very seriously into obtaining our own siren system. This will help us with several issues identified during this drill:

• We would ensure that a siren is heard in ALL of our campus buildings
• We could call our own drills at any time, not just when the City does their drills.
• We could distinguish siren sounds so that we could identify different sounds for different needs and
• We could call our own all-clear siren.

Most people reported that they got to their safe area in less than 1 to 2 minutes and nearly everyone filled out the roster once they were in the safe area. We were testing how easy it would be to use these rosters, as we are most interested in how well this roster worked. Some felt that there were too many papers floating around and we all felt that there was too much information on the form, so we are in the process of revising those forms.

We did have several issues raised regarding how we managed and supported those who are disabled and require additional assistance. At present, there is a place of refuge within the stairwells, which the fire department is well aware of and in the event of a true emergency, that would be one of their first tasks to check those areas. While this is the standard system, there was some discomfort about leaving someone in a stairwell, and not try to get them to the lowest floor. This is an issue that we need to address and ensure that we have identified the proper procedure that we are all comfortable with.

All in all, the drill did exactly what we expected. It highlighted some of the things we need to work on like the siren system. It helped us test a few things such as our building leaders (who were AMAZING) and our roster form (working on that one) and it showed us that we need to keep practicing these type of drills as well as ones that deal with some other potential issues such as fire or an intruder. Someone even said that the very bright green vests our building leaders needed to be brighter…yes, I think that was a joke—but at least they noticed.

Our work is not yet done! Keep on checking to see what we have been doing about crisis planning—and be prepared…the next drill may not be when you expect it… J

This morning, at 10:00 a.m. the first all campus tornado drill began. With the help of over 50 building drill leaders, all of campus safety and the Tornado Drill Team, we successfully tested our procedures for what to do in the case of severe weather. By 10:15 the all clear was sounded and campus returned to normal.

Drills are an important part of how we prepare for different situations. It is our hope that by conducting a drill with the help of so many, people will learn what needs to be done in the event of a real tornado or other severe weather–even if there are not people around to direct you.

We conducted an evaluation with the drill building leaders and learned a few things we need to address. Needless to say, we will be tweaking our siren systems, and identifying a few other safe areas in some buildings. All in all, though, it was a great first step in testing out our campus preparedness systems.

A follow-up email and survey is being sent to everyone on campus. Take a few minutes to fill it out…and check back here as we will use this blog to let you know about changes. You can also view the campus Emergency Response Plan online at http://intranet.noctrl.edu/omc/responseplan/index.htm.

For all of us who work in higher ed, we are very conscious of incidents that happen at other colleges and universities. We have learned many lessons from those who have lived through these emergency situations and we are continually revising our own crisis planning so that we are as prepared as possible in the event an emergency strikes North Central College.

So, why a blog? We are looking for an easy way to pass along information to our campus community. We have a great team working on refining how we respond to emergencies and we are implementing new plans and upgrades all the time. This blog will help us share what we have learned and our successes with you. We will update this blog as often as we accomplish something but promise to keep them short and to the point (well, that’s the hope, anyway).

For now, I encourage you to view our emergency response plan online at http://intranet.noctrl.edu/omc/responseplan/index.htm and visit here often to keep up with what we are doing.

One more thing…don’t forget that we are holding a tornado drill on Tuesday, April 1 at 10:00 a.m. Yes, we know it is April Fool’s Day…but WE”RE NOT FOOLIN” (or so say our posters hanging around campus). We have not had a severe weather drill in a long time for the entire campus, so find your safe area in your building and be prepared to move to that area when you hear the siren. We will be sending an evaluation of the drill to all faculty and staff afterwards so we can better evaluate our response to the drill. The whole drill should only last 15 minutes.

Come back soon as we will introduce the members of our Emergency Response Team and our Crisis Task Force.