Ethical Leadership in Troubling Times

Abstract

An administrator in a PK-12 setting has is an ethical responsibility to ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone on campus. With an increasing number of safety incidents on school and university campuses throughout the country, the development and maintenance of a school emergency operations plan (EOP) everyone knows, understands, and follows is imperative. This chapter presents a format to make sure students, staff, parents, and any others on campus at the time of an incident are safe. Following the blueprint created by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, this chapter walks the planning team through the necessary steps to create a safe plan to follow in the event of an emergency. Special interest is provided dealing with an active shooter incident. The decisions the leader makes can have a positive or negative impact on the student/staff at the site. An ethical leader needs to plan for the worst and have staff prepared to deal with the worst with the hopes of never having to implement the plan.