Crisis Response ReportScott Holland, Karen Schaeffer, Kathleen Souder, Jimmy

Whited, Kate Wolfe, and Barbara Wood

Details of the Incidento When: May 16, 2003o Where: Waller Mill

Elementary (Fine Arts Magnet)

o Who: Fran Spady, Principal

o What: Breach of testing security (followed by a resignation of the principal)

Timeline of the Incident

May 16, 2003 May 19, 2003 May 21, 2003

Superintendent discoveredguidelines violated &reported to VDOEPossible violation

reported;Investigation began

Principalconducted small group SOL test

Superintendent informed VDOE

official what actions would

be takenby school

system

Timeline of the Incident (con’t)

Between May 16 and May 20

May 22, 2003During week ofMay 26, 2003

Fran Spadyresigned as

WME principal

Interim principaltook over

Dr. Staples:*called parents of 3students involved

*sent a letter hometo all WME parents

School retested3 studentsinvolved

The Virginia Gazetteo Reported no reason for the

principal’s departureo Quoted Dr. Staples,

Superintendent:o three students would have to

retake the testo security measures not

properly followed

The Virginia Gazetteo Quoted Betsy Overkamp-

Smith, Community Spokesman, “Guidelines have been violated.”

o Described the positive side…o Dr. Staples: Waller Mill has

been fully accredited for three years

The Daily Presso Reported on May 24, 2003o Testing guidelines violated

3 times; principal resigns—doesn’t report a connection however

o Dr. Staples: what is a breach?o Doesn’t necessarily mean the

answers were given

The Daily Presso Many other violations

in the area:o Gloucester: 80 students

had to retakeo Culpepper: 67 studentso 17 local violations from

1999 to 2003

The Daily PressoDiscussed Dr. Staples apology

oDiscussed school’s response briefly

oNamed interim principal

The School’s Responseo According to Betsy

Overkamp-Smith:o Level of trust exists between

York County Schools, community, and the media

o Tried to keep it quiet as much as possible

o Once the story broke, gave immediate response to media

Stages of Crisis Control

Prevention

Preparedness

Response

Recovery

Prevention

oStaff received training

oSigned security agreement regarding testing procedures

PreparednessoHad a process of reporting testing irregularities

oHad plans for communicating with media

oEstablished trust between York County and the community

Responseo Called parents of

involved students to inform of situation

o Gave notice to all parentso Described incidento Apologized to parentso Explained that affected

students would be retested

Recoveryo Announced principal

resignationo Appointed interim principalo Initiated new principal

searcho Sealed investigated records

Effectiveness of the PR response

o Managed to diffuse the situationo Focused on previous

accreditationo Assured the community that

this was not a principal who was worried about scores

o Kept much of the information out of the media

Effectiveness of PRo The Director of Testing

administered retests the next week

o Diffused the Rumor Millo If you don’t hear from us, your

student wasn’t involvedo Got information out quickly

to parentsoAnnounced tentative principal

quicklyoSchool officials already in process

of appointing new principal

Effectiveness of PRo Gave possible explanation:

Educators spend the entire year giving information to help students succeed; for the SOLs, we can’t tell them anythingo Human erroro Not an overt attempt at

cheatingo Gave rationale while still

admitting that it was wrong

Reasons for Effectivenesso Many other similar stories

going around at this timeo News not as interesting

when it’s not newo The Tap-Dancing

Superintendent

Suggestions for Improvement

o Overall, successful PR responseo Swift actiono Severe consequenceso Quick communication

o Conducted an informal investigation afterwardso Would a formal investigation

have been better?o More training for staff to

prevent future problems?