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Tannye Stewart

Grand Canyon University

EAD-536

Denise Geier

February 1, 2023
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Benchmark – Adverse Situations

The main safety concern in this case study is the possibility of students facing heat stroke.

Decisions need to be made immediately to procure the safety of all students. As the day

continues, the temperature rises dangerously. The maintenance crew needs to be notified of the

situation. The maintenance crew can then let administrators know whether the coolers can be

fixed soon or not. It is imperative that the maintenance crew and the administrators are aware of

how many students in each classroom are in the main campus building. Arizona has numerous

schools that have various buildings on their campus. Thus, it would be helpful to identify which

building has a broken air conditioner, whether any other buildings on campus have air

conditioners that are no longer working, and exactly which buildings continue to have air

conditioning.

Administration needs to discuss the issue of the air conditioner not working with their

staff members. This is part of the process of deciding to effectively organize staff members.

Administration needs to stress the importance of how the air conditioner not working directly

affects the students’ safety. Also, during this serious situation, it is one of the staff members’

goals to remain positive in such a dire situation to maintain a positive school culture. By aiding

to positively to the school culture, staff members are understanding how valuable

communication is. Administration is demonstrating how they value their staff members by

trusting them with the knowledge of the situation occurring on the school campus. Furthermore,

an email and/or staff text message blast can be distributed to guarantee that all staff members are

aware of the current position the school is in, the plan put in motion, and how the situation will

eventually be handled.
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For legal rulings, the administrator’s main responsibility is to guarantee the safety of all

students. In this circumstance, the concern is the protecting staff members and students from

overheating and suffering a heat stroke. PSEL standard 2c states, “Place children at the center of

education and accept responsibility for each student’s academic success and well-being”

(NPBEA, 2015, p. 10). The school district could potentially be held responsible legally if a

student were to overheat and suffer a heat stroke. Also, the school district could be liable to pay

for any students’ medical cost related to overheating. The school district policy states, “We

believe that each student should be given the opportunity to be educated in a physically and

emotionally safe, personalized, and caring environment” (Vail School District, 2020, p. 4). Also,

the school district policy claims that each student needs to be placed in a physically safe

environment. Thus, the situation of students possibly overheating needs to be addressed

immediately.

The stakeholders in this scenario are the teachers on the school campus, staff members

affected by the situation, the students affected by the situation, the school district’s maintenance

crew/department, and the families/parents of all students that are at the school during this crisis.

There are a variety of solutions to this case study based off distinctive facets. The first

solution is to remove students from the building where the air conditioner does not work and

place them in classrooms and/or other buildings where the air conditioner is working. The

students can then wait in the next location until the air conditioner is fixed. However, this first

solution does not guarantee that all affected students will be able to continue with their

instructional lessons or avoid a mob of individuals from attempting to pick up their students

simultaneously. On the other hand, this first solution may not be manageable because of such a

great number of students affected by the air conditioner not working. The second solution would
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be for administrators to communicate with the school district’s maintenance department to

discover whether there are any transportable air conditioners obtainable that could be stationed in

each affected classroom. Unfortunately, transportable air conditioners may not be obtainable.

The third solution would be for administrators to evacuate the entire school to ensure the safety

of all students. The first solution would be the better option to enact. Thus, all affected students

should be moved to different classrooms or buildings that are not affected by the broken air

conditioner. The administrators should also inform staff of the situation so that teachers can

better plan for the movement of the affected students. Relocating the affected students to

classrooms and buildings that have air conditioners that properly work, this solution backs the

school’s mission and vision statements. The first solution backs the school’s mission and vision

statements by further keeping the students safe and safeguarding each student is still getting

excellent instruction.

The first solution being enacted includes acknowledging which classrooms and buildings

the affected students will be placed in and still be able to continue their instructional lessons.

Due to the first solution being enacted, all daily enrichment classes would be canceled so that

those specific rooms can be utilized to place the affected students in them. After deciding where

students will officially be moved to, the administrators need to communicate with the enrichment

teachers, explain what is going on, and then inform them of the plan that involves all staff

affected by the air conditioner not working. Afterwards, all affected students need to be relocated

to classrooms and buildings that have a working air conditioner in an orderly method. Each

student needs to drink water and remain hydrated. Administrators can help the students remain

hydrated by providing them with water bottles or letting them use their own water bottles. Then,

administrators need to inform all parents via a mass text message and/or call about the situation
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that has occurred and what steps have been taken to guarantee the safety of their children.

Administrators should placate parents by reassuring them that each student is safely located in a

classroom with a working air conditioner and are staying safely hydrated to avoid overheating.

Administrators should stress to parents that school will function normally during the situation

happening. The front office school workers need to be prepared to get phone calls from worried

parents inquiring about the situation and the safety of their child/children. The front office school

workers need to also be prepared on what they can tell parents about the situation. All these

actions need to happen in a timely manner, possibly within the first hour of the air conditioners

not working. This action should be taken to further protect the safety of each student and staff

member on the school campus. This process will assist in lessening the concerns of staff

members, students, and the parents. In addition, this process safeguards the students receiving an

effective instruction. This is also a priority of the administrators.

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References

National Policy Board for Educational Administration (2015). Professional Standards for

Educational Leaders 2015. Reston, VA: Author.

Vail School District. (2020). Guiding principles and mission.

http://www.vailschooldistrict.org/why-vail/guiding-principles-and-mission/