Burlington County School Crisis Response Team

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Burlington County School Crisis Response Team
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Who We Are

• The Burlington County School Crisis Response Team
  is comprised of 70 members representing 37 county
  school districts, the county superintendents
  office, Hampton Academy and Burlington County
  College. Team members serve their districts in
  various capacities, including school
  administrators, guidance counselors, school
  psychologists, social workers, teachers, school
  nurses and other related areas.
• All members of the team are volunteers who have
  undergone intense specialized training in school
  crisis response with national expert Cheri Lovre,
  M.S.

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What We Do

• Team members will mobilize as a support system
  for schools in crisis. The presence of the team
  will allow the home district to remain stable,
  offer a greater pool of resources and enhance the
  districts response to the crisis within the
  community.

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How Can We Help?

• In an event such as a student death, the
  Burlington County School Crisis Response Team
  might arrive at your building prior to the start
  of the school day. The Team Leader would meet
  with the building principal, who at all times
  maintains control of the crisis response. The
  Principal and Team Leader will discuss the
  services available and decide which will be
  implemented to assist your school community
  through this difficult time.
• Those services may include the following, by way
  of example
• Facilitation of a faculty meeting before school
• Establishment and staffing of a Safe Room for
  students to express grief
• Assisting with security needs, media liaison,
  communications
• Arranging parent/community meeting
• Organizing a Memory Event

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What Can We Add To Your Plan?

• None of us could have scripted a plan that would
  have provided a checklist for administrators at
  Columbine or Thurston High Schools following
  shootings there.
• Who among us would have drafted and drilled a
  plan that effectively prepared Manhattan schools
  for the September 11 tragedy?
• The training received by members of the
  Burlington County School Crisis Response Team has
  included lessons learned from those and numerous
  other catastrophes impacting school communities.
• Team members can help you get back to the work of
  healing by providing sample letters, forms,
  meeting agendas and informational guides for
  staff.

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Why Engage A County-Wide Team?

• All schools have developed comprehensive
  emergency management plans, and most districts
  have both building-level and district rapid
  response teams to cover emergent situations. Such
  teams are essential, as your response in the
  first crucial moments of a crisis are perhaps the
  most important.
• Consider, however, the vulnerability of your
  school if key personnel are called away from
  their normal positions to aid in the sustained
  stages of handling a crisis in your school. Are
  those who best know the impacted students and
  staff unavailable to them in this time of need?
  Will the primary responders in your district be
  among those most profoundly impacted by this
  event?

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Burlington County's School Crisis Response Team
offers the same level of support to all
districts. In addition, it v Shares the cost
of training v Avoids district burn-out v
Keeps "walking wounded" from care- giving
v Provides a highly-skilled team v Offers
benefits of increased experience
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Burlington County School Crisis Response Team
Participants

• Bass River
• Bordentown Regional
• Burlington City
• Burlington County College
• Burlington County Institute of Technology
• Burl. Co. Special Services School District
• Burlington Township
• Chesterfield
• Delanco
• Delran
• Eastampton
• Edgewater Park
• Evesham
• Florence
• Hainesport
• Hampton Academy
• Lenape Regional High School District
• Lumberton
• Mansfield

• Moorestown
• Mount Holly
• Mount Laurel
• New Hanover
• North Hanover
• Northern Burlington Regional High School
• Palmyra Borough
• Pemberton Township
• Rancocas Valley Regional
• Riverside
• Riverton
• Shamong
• Southampton
• Springfield
• Tabernacle
• Westampton
• Willingboro
• New Jersey Department of Education, Burlington
  County Superintendents Office

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• For more information on the
• Burlington County
• School Crisis Response Team,
• contact
• Josephine Mercantini-Bocci
• Educational Services Unit
• Burlington County
• Special Services School District
• 795 Woodlane Road, Suite 10
• Westampton, NJ 08060
• Phone [phone] x 7419
• Jbocci_at_bcsssd.k12.nj.us
• The Educational Services Unit is the
  collaborative effort of 42 Burlington County
  School Districts formed in 1997 to provide high
  quality shared services and opportunities to
  students and staff in member districts.