Special Education

Communication With Parents/Guardians

Parents will want information when a critical incident in the school community may be affecting their children. Depending on the nature of the traumatic event, the entire community may be affected. Special communications to parents can be extremely helpful in gaining their support for the school and in reaching satisfactory closure to the incident for students. In some cases communication by telephone may be advisable. In other cases, where the number of contacts precludes telephone contact, a letter is more useful.

Suggestions for communications with parents by telephone

• The person doing the telephoning should be comfortable with the role and ideally have experience or training in counselling.
• Prepare a script similar to the one used to announce the event to students, which covers the facts of the critical incident.
• Be sensitive to possible emotional reactions by a parent and use active listening skills to calm an upset parent.
• Personally contact the parents of any student who has had a difficult time coping with the traumatic event and give information about community mental health resources which parents may wish to access for their children.
• Reassure parents that the school is responding to the critical incident and describe the response activities.

Suggestions for written communication with parents

Depending on the impact of the critical incident, a letter may be sent home with every student in the class or classes involved and, in some cases, with the entire school. Information to be included in the letter should be checked carefully with the police or other relevant experts. Clearing the content of the communication to parents with the Superintendent is advised. Care needs to be exercised in following Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act requirements. This letter could include the following information:

• the nature of the critical incident and appropriate details,
• what the students have been told,
• possible grief/stress reactions that parents may expect in their children,
• suggestions of how they might respond to their children's reactions,
• in the case of a death, the funeral arrangements, and
• resources available to parents.

This resource guide provides examples of letters and pamphlets which can be used to plan communication with parents/guardians. See page 36 - Communication with parents/guardians and Appendix 7 - Material for parents following a critical incident.

Communications with parents at the school site

Make plans to accommodate parents who come to the school following a critical incident.

Parents or other concerned community members may gravitate to the school in response to a critical incident. They may wish to take their children home or may be looking for information or help with their own emotional responses to the incident.

Plans should include advance arrangements for how to deal effectively with these adults. Experienced schools report that it is a good idea to pre-arrange a space to accommodate these individuals.

Support materials for parents on how to help students deal with trauma can be made available and information about community resources can be provided. Appendix 7 of this document provides three pamphlets, drawn from materials developed by School District 38 (Richmond), School District 36 (Surrey) and Health and Welfare Canada's publication, Personal Services (Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1990).

Sample letters to parents - 1

All names and situations used in sample materials are fictional

Sample letters to parents - 2

All names and situations used in sample materials are fictional

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