Clackamas ESD coordinates a new countywide response to school crises

When tragedy strikes, it affects the entire community — and it takes a community to respond. 

Tragedy can take many forms; the death of a student or staff member, a natural disaster, or an act of terrorism. No crisis is alike, and having a trained group in our schools prepared to respond to school crises is critical to beginning the healing process, preventing further harm, and identifying and protecting vulnerable students. That’s why in the fall of 2021, Clackamas Education Service District brought together Clackamas County school districts and key community partners like Clackamas County Suicide Prevention Coordinator Galli Murray to create the Clackamas Regional Flight Team, a countywide support network to respond to school crises.

A flight team fills a range of needs after a school crisis. In the first hours after the crisis, the flight team coordinates the communication between district and school leadership, community partners, and flight team members and mobilizes the flight team response.

Flight teams then set up a support room, a space for students to process their trauma, at the school affected by the crisis. In the support room, students can talk as a group or one-on-one with a flight team member or reflect on the crisis independently through meditation, listening to music, or expressing their feelings through making art or writing notes to the deceased or their family.

In addition to the centralized response in the support room, flight team members make rounds in spaces struggling students often retreat to, like halls, bathrooms, or outdoors on the school grounds, ride school buses as needed, and help answer the dozens or hundreds of calls coming into the school in the wake of the crisis.

Perhaps most importantly, flight team members are key in identifying vulnerable students, so schools know who to give additional support to during the healing processes — preventing another tragedy.

Until the 2022-23 school year, Clackamas County school districts responded to crises independently or in collaboration with just one or two neighboring districts. These small response teams struggled to consistently respond to the wide range of crises — each unique and unpredictable — that schools face.

Clackamas ESD Mental Health, Safety and Prevention Specialist Sandy Mathewson launched a regional flight team in her previous role at ESD 112 in Southwest Washington and recognized the positive impact a collaborative countywide response to school crises would have in Clackamas County, particularly for smaller districts with fewer staff and resources.

“All districts deserve the best support, regardless of size or location,” said Mathewson. “Clackamas ESD is in the unique position to provide this service and take on the management, coordination and training of a regional flight team. In addition to sharing resources, a countywide response allows counselors the space to grieve and get support if the crisis personally impacts them. Sometimes the helpers need help, too.”

Over the 2021-22 school year, Mathewson coordinated a countywide flight team leadership committee that met monthly to agree upon a framework for a collaborative response,  create a manual, flowchart of actions, and communication templates to guide crisis response, and recruit staff from their districts for the regional flight team.

In the spring of 2022, the first cohort of new flight team responders completed the Initial Clackamas Regional Flight Team Training. The one-day introductory training covers the basics of what regional flight team members need to know, including support room logistics, how children at different development stages respond to trauma, and how to work with flight team members from other districts.

At the conclusion of the introductory training, members receive a “grab and go” backpack filled with support room supplies and a Clackamas Regional Flight Team badge that helps students and staff identify who they can go to for support.

Clackamas ESD also organizes an Experienced Regional Flight Team Training to expand on the knowledge and skills taught in the initial training and a Regional Flight Team Lead Training for those interested in stepping up into a leadership role during school crises.

Clackamas ESD facilitated training for 30 regional flight team members in spring 2022. This fall, the regional flight team grew to 53.

In the first month of the 2022-23 school year, the Clackamas Regional Flight Team has responded to three school crises.

“I was so impressed with everything related to the regional flight team response,” reported Marla Conser, Clackamas County Juvenile Department’s behavioral safety assessment program coordinator. “This was my first opportunity to be involved in support of a school in this way. It was a privilege not only to be a part of meeting real needs for students and staff as a professional but also as a concerned community member.” 

The next Initial Clackamas Regional Flight Team Training, Experienced Regional Flight Team Training and Regional Flight Team Lead Training are in April 2023. Learn more and register now via the links, or contact Sierra Wilson, Clackamas ESD crisis prevention and response specialist, at swilson@clackesd.org or 503-680-5911.