Violence and aggression continue to be the major causes of trauma in some schools, as a small, yet significant number of students become involved in gang rivalry, drug trafficking, drug use, drug abuse and fights, sometimes with deadly weapons.

These incidents usually result in violent acts that are at times fatal, affecting the entire school community and causing major disruptions. Trauma also results from unplanned events and accidents happening in and around the school compound.

In times of crisis, schools need to respond immediately to prevent or minimise the possibility of further negative impact on the school's culture and environment.

Participating schools

Barracks Road Primary School in St James is one of 98 primary and all-age schools and 15 high schools under a PALS-Ministry of Education project which are addressing the matter of crisis management.

The school has constituted a critical incident management team (CIMT), tasked with the responsibility of being the first responders to crises.

The Barracks Road CIMT got together recently to continue its planning for the critical incident management programme (CIMP). On the agenda was a review of how the school had responded to an equipment injury to a student recently. The incident took place before the start of school.

Team members were alerted to the injury and a coordinated response resulted in the quick execution of the tasks needed to be done.

It was agreed that more manpower was needed to supervise the 500 students who are at school very early - some are there as early as 6.30 a.m. Each classroom will be equipped with a first-aid kit all members of the team would be trained in first-aid, and teachers and students would immediately engage in a check for hazards in the classroom.

By the end of the day, president of the parent-teacher association, Ricardo Wallace, had been con-tacted about the manpower needs. He responded by saying he would be coopting parents to help with supervision.

Major outcome

A major outcome of the introduction of CIMP at Barracks Road has been the rescheduling of the lunch hour. It was during lunch - under the previous system where all 1,700 children had lunch at the same time - that most of the injuries and fights would take place.

"The guidance counsellor used to have her own casualty area, right in front of her office, processing and filtering injured students. She used to live at the hospital," said Principal Alanzo Jones.

Vice Principal Berle Hylton described what used to take place.

"We used to be kept busy. The bigger children used to hit on the littler ones. We used to have stone-throwing, fighting, kicking, hitting."

The new arrangement is for the lower school to have lunch first.

"Teachers love the idea," said Hylton. "We have adjusted the bells and are not turning back. We decided we are going to fight to reduce incidents and injuries, and there is no turning back."

Jones added: "The chemistry has changed. There is a smaller number of children out there and they are behaving in a calmer way without prompting."

Both administrators concurred that there has been a marked reduction in incidents with the new system.

Another feature that has beenintroduced as a result of the team's assessment of safety is the posting of prefects and teachers to monitor said the playing field.

Barracks Road is now measuring the benefits of the programme.

The division of labour among the team has resulted in Jones now having that much-needed space and time to think more clearly and to make more rational decisions in times of crisis.

There are signs of a change in culture as Jones said "more teachers are now seeing safety as a collective responsibility".

Structured programme

The programme provides struc-ture. "With clearly assigned roles to team members, we won't have teachers running up and down when an incident occurs. Everyone now knows exactly what to do. There is no overlap. We can now take a structured approach," said Jones. Hylton added that the school had a framework, which they were localising.

Preventative approaches to safety and security have been enhanced.

"We are more alert and trying to be more proactive," said one teacher.

Collaborative planning concerning evacuation procedures are under way with the two schools adjacent to Barracks Road Primary.

More to address

There is much that the team still needs to address, creating another exit that would facilitate the easier movement in an evacuation of the students; creating codes that would signal the level of crisis and alert the whole school community that there is a crisis; developing strategies for quick mobilisation of the team; posting signs that would guide evacuation procedures; identifying medical personnel who would be on call to the school in the absence of a nurse.

The members of the Barracks Road crisis management team are the principal - head of the team; the vice principal - staff co-ordinator; victims coordinator - guidance counsellors Patricia Headley and Bernadine Reid; mass media coordinators - Aretha England and Mitsy Burns; medical emergency coordinators - Jessica Coley and Noreen Green; transport coordinator - Mbejou Furze; parent coordinator - Kamla-Kay Watkin.

For more information contact palsjamaica@cwjamaica.com

A wall at Barracks Road Primary School in St James outlines the dos and don'ts for living in a peaceful society. - Contributed