ESTF Roadmap: Educators & School Staff
A Roadmap For Educators
There are critical roles, responsibilities and opportunities for all involved in the education system at each level to take actions that will improve educator safety. The following information describes the role, responsibility or opportunity for educators identified by the ESTF along the continuum from pre-incident to post-incident. These range from awareness of systems and participation in training to advocacy for supports, actions prior to during or after incidents and the continuous fostering of conditions or connections within the school community.
Pre-Incident: Incident Reduction & Preparation
The North Star for educator safety strategies is to prevent injury to any education staff member as a result of aggressive or violent behavior by a student. Recognizing that there are factors fully outside of educators’ control, the two highest priority categories of actions by educators are those intended to reduce the number or severity of these incidents and be prepared for those incidents do occur.
Roles for educators in the pre-incident category identified by the ESTF are listed in the table below.
| Element | Roles & Responsibilities |
| Training | De-escalation Training. All educators and school staff should insist on de-escalation training as part of their preparation, onboarding and regular professional development or continuing education. These trainings should include classroom and situation based components. Training should begin during professional preparation and should be refreshed regularly to keep up with development or learnings from the field and to keep skills current. Educators and their representatives should advocate for these trainings for classroom teachers, paraprofessionals and all education staff who interact with students which may include transportation, maintenance or other staff. |
| Classroom Incident Response Team (CIRT) | The ESTF Roadmap for Action recommends that all schools have a trained group of responders including security and mental or behavioral health experts. Educators should ensure they are familiar with the CIRT or other professionals who will respond to incidents in their classroom and should be clear on their role in contacting, communicating, working with and supporting these individuals. To ensure their preparedness to partner with these responders, educators should advocate for and participate in scenario-based training with the teams. Whenever possible, this should include annual full-scale trainings and micro-learning opportunities throughout the year. |
| Staffing | The need for expanded student access to mental and behavioral health professionals and improved adult to student classroom ratios is addressed in the ESTF Roadmap for Action. While this is not an issue that can be directly addressed or changed by educators, they should consider and explore opportunities to advocate for these issues with their professional associations, within their school, school system, community and with state leaders.
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| Space to Recalibrate and Recharge | To support both educators and students by providing opportunity for them to take a short break when needed to physically or emotionally step away from a situation, a “Tap-In/Tap-Out” system should be implemented. Educators should advocate for these systems if not already in place and if they do exist, should be familiar with and make use of these where appropriate. The role of educators includes being familiar with the technical or procedural side of them such as how to signal for their need and it should include the personal and professional comfort and confidence to encourage or embrace their use. |
| Conditions | Educators and school staff all have a critical and front-line role to play in establishing the conditions that will reduce incidents of violent behavior toward educators, prepare the school community to respond when they do occur and empower the community to quickly recover following an incident. These roles include but are not limited to:
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Incident Response: Managing Incidents
Even with the best training, preparation and healthy school cultures, not every aggressive or violent behavior by a student toward an educator can be prevented. When such incidents do occur, educators need to take appropriate, decisive and swift action to operationalize their training, communicate about the situation and contain or minimize the disruption, all with the goal of ensuring their own safety and that of the students.
Roles for educators in managing incident response are listed in the table below.
| Element | Roles & Responsibilities |
| Technical & Communications | Educators and school staff should be familiar with and comfortable following communication protocols at the time of the incident and under high-stress situations. This should be reinforced through regular training. Communication knowledge of each educator must include: Awareness of what system and back-up system can be used to communicate (e.g. push button, radio, text etc.); What information to communicate and to whom. Educators should also be fully familiar with any safety features or protocols within the classroom or other location of the incident intended to prevent further harm or damage, provide a safe environment for other students and protect the safety of themselves, other educators and the student who is the aggressor. |
| Classroom Incident Response Team (CIRT) | Acting with the knowledge described in the pre-incident table, educators and staff should be prepared to engage appropriately with the CIRT or other responding individuals. This includes what information to provide, how to relay information, what information to convey, how to support the responders and if or how they should create space for the responders. Educators and staff will also need to be familiar with responder protocols including when additional help should be sought. |
| Physical Space | Educators and staff should be prepared to use the physical environment to de-escalate tensions, provide safe environments for other students and minimize the threat of the physical space. This can include a range of tactics including “cozy corners” within the classroom for other students, fidget toys, securing or avoiding the presence of any items that could be used to cause harm and ensuring all students know where they can go within or outside the classroom during an incident. |
| School Community Management | During an incident, educators should lean on their training and school systems to provide for the safety of others in the school including students and staff in other classrooms. |
Post Incident: Recovery & Return
Following an incident of violent behavior by a student toward an educator or staff member, the return to comfort and learning for all affected will be different depending on the nature of the incident. There will be immediate, short-term and longer-term effects and steps to be taken to advance that cycle of recovery. Educators will often be torn between the needs of their students, including the offending student, and their own needs. They should give attention to the needs of all involved and recognize the effects may extend beyond their own classroom into the school, district or even the community.
Roles for educators in supporting the needs of all involved as part of the post-incident recovery are listed in the table below.
| Element | Roles & Responsibilities |
| Educator Supports | Beginning immediately after an incident, educators or staff who have been the target of aggressive, violent behavior by a student should ensure their own well-being is a priority. This includes advocating for and seeking appropriate professional support and self-care. Educators should advocate for and access all available resources including medical care, mental health supports, time off if needed and where appropriate, access to workers compensation benefits. |
| Processes to Support All Affected | As is discussed in all of the Roadmaps, schools and school systems should have in place clear processes to support all involved with or affected by an incident. In addition to advocating for and being knowledgeable of these processes, there are important active roles for educators to take including:
In most schools, educators will have an important role organizing and participating in debriefs with the students affected by the incident. These conversations may be led by a member of the CIRT or another professional to provide a neutral facilitator for the discussion, allowing the involved educator to either participate as an affected individual or to separate from the discussion. |
| Reporting System & Standards | The ESTF has recommended the creation of a standardized reporting process and set of facts about each incident. The Roadmap for Action recommends that these be created at the school system level with support from the State and that the State require a minimal set of facts about each incident. Educators should be familiar with and should actively participate in the collection or providing of needed information for these reports. If, as some suggested in the educator survey, there is hesitation by a school or system leader to report all information, educators should seek support and ensure the incident is appropriately documented. |
| Communications | Each school and school system should have a clear process for determining what information about any incident should be communicated within the school, school system or to the school community. Educators should be familiar with the general guidelines, know who to contact with questions and know if there is any information they should or are authorized to communicate. |