School Safety and Crisis Management David Albert, Director of - - PDF document

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School Safety and Crisis Management David Albert, Director of - - PDF document

Jan 15, 2023 331 likes •499 views

School Safety and Crisis Management David Albert, Director of Communications, Marketing and Research, New York State School Boards Association Keshia Clukey, Bloomberg Law Reporter Donald E. Budmen, Esq., Ferrara Fiorenza P.C. Jay

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23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA 23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

School Safety and Crisis Management

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 David Albert, Director of Communications, Marketing and Research, New York State School Boards Association  Keshia Clukey, Bloomberg Law Reporter  Donald E. Budmen, Esq., Ferrara Fiorenza P.C.  Jay Worona, Esq., Deputy Executive Director & General Counsel, New York State School Boards Association

23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Legal & PR: The Odd Couple?

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23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

The Odd Couple?

  • Legal – Say less, wait until all facts are in.
  • PR – Be first with the story, put out what you

know.

23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Legal

  • Attorney Rules of Professional Conduct limit extrajudicial

statements that may be made about a criminal or civil matter

  • Rule 3.6 (Trial Publicity)
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23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Where a lawyer is participating in or has participated in a civil or criminal matter…

Extrajudicial statement where the lawyer knows or reasonably should know it will be publicly disseminated

The statement will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding in the matter

STOP

Extrajudicial statements are regulated. Beware of:

23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Where a lawyer is participating in or has participated in a civil or criminal matter…

A reasonable lawyer would believe it’s required to protect client from substantial prejudicial effect of recent publicity

The publicity was not initiated by the lawyer or the client

Statement only what’s necessary to mitigate recent adverse publicity

Extrajudicial statements are regulated. What is permitted – a statement where:

OK

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23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Legal

  • Defamation: injury to one’s reputation

– through “publication” (by either spoken or written words OR by any form

  • f communication)

– where the words are false AND – there is no privilege or authorization to publish such word AND – harm occurs to:

  • One’s standing in his/her reputation, office, trade OR
  • One’s means of livelihood

23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Legal

  • A lawyer may state information contained in the public record

– Examples:

  • A court decision
  • A court petition
  • Other documents that are not sealed by the court
  • A lawyer may state the client’s claims or defenses, without

elaboration

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23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Legal

  • A lawyer may make a statement that a reasonable

lawyer would believe was required to protect a client from the substantial prejudicial effect of recent publicity not initiated by the lawyer or the lawyer’s

  • client. The statement made shall be limited to such

information as is necessary to mitigate the recent publicity.

23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

The media landscape, circa 2019

  • Daily/weekly publications, in print and
  • nline.
  • Local TV news, larger news hole.
  • 24/7 cable news, national news, radio.
  • Bloggers, YouTube Channels, Facebook,

Twitter, Instagram.

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23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Commonalities

  • All will break news as it happens – online, on

social media, on TV and radio.

  • All will gather info from social media – FB

postings, tweets, smartphone video/photos.

23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Print vs. broadcast

  • Print

– Beat, GA reporters, bloggers. – Education beat reporter may be more familiar with your district, offer more in-depth coverage.

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23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Print vs. broadcast

  • Broadcast

– More GA reporters, may be less familiar with education, your district.

  • “Citizen journalists”

23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Why you need to work with the media

  • Proactive

– Manage the message. Shape the story. – Don’t let others frame narrative. – Many sources: police, hospitals, regulatory agencies, groups with an agenda.

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23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Working with the media

  • Credibility

– Be the reliable, trusted source of information. – Build public trust and confidence. – Preserve reputation. – Correct/prevent misinformation.

23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Working with the media

  • Transparency

– Don’t force media to use alternative methods to

  • btain what they need.

– Avoid being seen as lacking candor.

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23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Know when to use

  • On/off the record.
  • On background.
  • Not for attribution.
  • Statements.

23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

What the media want

  • Facts

– What happened? Who was involved? – Where did the shooting occur? When? – How many victims? Condition? Location? – How is the district responding?

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23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

What the media want

  • Regular updates.
  • Speak to witnesses and victims.
  • Photo and video opportunities.

23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

What you can expect

  • Media will cover all aspects of the incident.

– Exponential coverage: multiple locations, multiple reporters, multiple angles.

  • Seek on-site interviews with staff, students,

parents, authorities.

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23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Coverage: Day 1

  • Focus on facts, details, response.

– Who was involved? – Legal & PR should pre-plan how they will handle requests for student and employee names, information in district records, etc.

23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Coverage: Day 2

  • “Why?”

– Issues raised by shooting. – School entrance policies and procedures, security equipment malfunction, human error, school personnel qualifications/training, laws.

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23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Coverage: Day 2

  • Legal and PR must work together to handle questions

re: disciplinary history, employee history, condition of victims, liability issues, inappropriate action by school district.

23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Coverage: Beyond Day 2

  • New developments, investigations into

shooting details, medical conditions,

  • utreach efforts, questions about

responsibility and accountability, discrepancies, second-guessing, looming issues (laws, regulations, etc.).

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23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Working with the media

  • To summarize…

– Information will get out. – Take control of the story. – Report your own bad news.

23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Common ground

  • Avoid damage.
  • Respect privacy.
  • Convey accurate information.
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23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Working together

  • Designate primary crisis spokesperson and

media contact.

  • Establish communication channel between

legal and PR. Consult often.

23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Working together

  • Determine core messages.
  • Anticipate tough questions.
  • Don’t speculate.
  • Hold briefings with SMEs as needed.
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23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Working together

  • Tell media if you cannot answer a question due

to legal reasons – and explain what the legal reasons are.

23rd Annual Pre-convention School Law Seminar • Co-hosted by NYSSBA and NYSASA

Not really The Odd Couple