Should a major crisis strike one of Weyburn's schools, the staff will now have a set of guidelines to follow to ensure the safety of students and themselves.

Representatives from all school divisions in Weyburn and the surrounding area collaborated in a crisis protocol workshop in Weyburn on Wednesday, with participation from members of the police and fire department.

Jan Chell, director of education for Weyburn School Division 97, said a tragic events committee has already been in place for the past eight years. However, she said the committee decided last year to enhance the current manual on tragic events to include situations which can be termed a crisis.

"The difference between a tragic event and a critical incident is that a tragic event allows you more time to think about it," she said.

About 29 categories of crisis situations were outlined in the report, ranging from extreme violence to severe weather, and each category contains a specific series of guidelines to follow. However, Chell said, categories such as weather encompass several scenarios, including tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, or blizzards.

"You name the crisis, we have the protocol," she said.

The protocol also contains various preventative measures, as well as guidelines.

Some recommendations made at the workshop were the creation of a desktop reference distributed to all staff members throughout the various schools, in the case a teacher needs immediate guidelines. Accessing the guidelines through telephone was also discussed as a viable option.

Also, participants suggested adopting codes for given situations. For example, Chell said, if a certain code referred to a gunman entering the school, announcing the code over the intercom would alert teachers to danger without panicking students or alerting the gunman.

The protocol will be distributed to the various schools and organizations and finely tuned to fit each school's own circumstances, said Chell. For example, in the event of an evacuation, each school would have its own location to move students.

Chell also said the final draft of the protocol may be given to the police and fire department, giving them prior knowledge of staff members' actions if disaster strikes, and parents will also be made aware of the guidelines.

The development of the crisis protocol is an impressive feat, said Chell, because it was the joint effort of all the schools in the Weyburn area. "That collaboration is powerful," she said.

Chell said the finished product should be edited and available next year.