National School Safety and Security Services

School safety & school crisis media training

School Safety Media Training

Managing the Media Madness: Communicating to the School Community in Emergencies and on School Safety Issues

National School Safety and Security Services has extensive experience in working with local and national media. Kenneth S. Trump, our firm's president, is one of the nation's most widely quoted school safety experts. He has been interviewed by all network and cable news outlets, the top 50 U.S. daily print newspapers, and radio stations nationwide.

Ken has worked with school leaders following high-profile school safety incidents to develop and deliver key messages to their school community to prevent overreaction and to provide context to school safety issues during emotional times.

Ken's media experience spans over a decade, beginning with his work with local network news affiliates and expanding to his present day work involving live satellite news "expert interviews" on school safety issues, taped network evening news interviews, appearances on national morning news shows, regular interviews with national and daily newspaper reporters, interviews with national and local radio news, international news interviews, and related media interaction. Most recently, he has presented at back-to-back national conventions of the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) to advise school public information officers from across the country on communications strategies for addressing school safety, security, and emergency preparedness issues.

Ken shares his media insights and skills in a training session geared for school board members, executive level district administrators, central office managers, principals, public safety agency officials, and others who communicate with the media during a time of school crisis and/or on non-emergency school safety issues.

Sample topics may include:

  • What parents expect in school communications on safety issues
  • What the media expects from school and safety officials
  • Common "sound bites" on school safety issues that position school officials in a questionable light with their school community
  • Methods for communicating effectively with parents and the school community during a crisis
  • Developing messages which create credibility and trust --- and guaranteed ways to lose credibility and trust if you fail to properly communication
  • The "sound bite": Communicating complex safety issues in short spaces and timeframes
  • Techniques for "staying on message"
  • "Lessons learned" from a school safety professional on how the media really works behind the cameras, radio console, and print newsroom doors
  • Practical mini-case studies in managing communications and messages in the weeks after a high-profile school crisis, as well as examples of communicating positively about school safety when there is not a crisis in the news
  • Applying "risk communication" concepts and lessons learned from business and government sector crises to communicating about school security and emergency preparedness issues
  • Hot topics in school safety likely to thrust your district into the spotlight

And additional related topics as appropriate.

For additional information, contact Ken Trump.

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