School District Again Delays Report of Student Athlete's Death

I have written here a couple times about Max Gilpin, a Pleasure Ridge Park High School (Louisville, Kentucky) student who collapsed during a hot football practice in August and died three days later. I took the Jefferson County Public School District to task in February (www.crisisexperts.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html), in part for the long delay in interviewing witnesses. Since then, the district's handling of this crisis has become even worse.

According to The Courier-Journal, JCPS is saying release of its investigation will take another month. (www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs/dll/article?AID=2009905280347) It's already been nine months. The police completed their investigation in November and a grand jury charged Coach Jason Stinson with reckless homicide. District Spokeswoman Lauren Roberts said on March 3 that the district needed another 4-6 weeks before releasing details of the JCPS investigation. On April 14, Superintendent Sheldon Berman said it would be another four weeks. Now, just a few days before June, Berman is saying it could take another month to release details of the district's investigation.

This is foot dragging, pure and simple. What more information is available now that JCPS hasn't been able to uncover for nine months? Max's parents, Michelle Crocket and Jeff Gilpin, said they believe the district is trying to delay releasing anything until after Stinson's trial, which begins on August 31.

"It became very clear to us (after reading the Louisville Metro Police Department's investigative file) that we needed to conduct more interviews and collect more data," Berman told The Courier-Journal. "All that is being done now and we should have a report and bring this to a close in mid-June."

But hold on. You couldn't have done that last November? I wrote here back in February that the district waited too long to decide to interview football players and coaches, a process that was reported to have been concluded in late September, an entire month after Max collapsed. Who does JCPS still need to talk to? How accurate are those memories after nine months? If one month was too long to investigate, how about nine?

JCPS botched this from the start. I'm often an advocate of the school district, on this blog and in social circles. But clearly to me, JCPS failed to recognize that a football player hospitalized in a coma following practice on a hot, muggy, August afternoon constituted a crisis. And when that 15-year-old died three days later and JCPS still failed to launch an investigation until after his funeral, the superintendent turned a manageable crisis into a situation beginning to bubble out of control. Then came the civil suit, the criminal charges, and nine months of investigation, and JCPS still has more people to talk to. Sorry, Mr. Berman. You are doing a disservice to the coach, his assistants, and the principal, all of whom have been named in the parents' civil suit. You have lost credibility and control of this crisis.

Swine Flu a Time to Prepare, Not to Panic

I've been preaching since the start of this blog to prepare for the worst when it comes to pandemics. I'm sticking with that, but with the warning not to go overboard. At the moment, the ship isn't sinking, so keep calm.

Meyzeek Middle School here in Louisville has reported three confirmed flu cases and tests on two more are pending. The superintendent said all cases were mild. Nevertheless, 474 of its 1,076 students were absent Friday. I can safely say that three cases of seasonal flu wouldn't have been taken seriously enough to keep nearly half the students out of classes. Neither should H1N1. It's not a time to panic. It's a time to plan.

If this is truly a pandemic and behaves as past pandemics have, a second wave in several months could be lethal to many. This first wave may just be a warning. In fact, the lucky ones may be those who caught H1N1 now. They should be immune if we have a second deadlier wave.

California Financial Storm Is Still Without a Rainbow

Today's news contains the proverbial good news/bad news irony. Kentucky has received $1.4 million in stimulus money, which it will distribute to private agencies that care for abused and neglected children. I've served on boards and as a volunteer for several of these special organizations. We sweated over funding during the best of times. I don't know how they've been getting by after cutting about 7% from their budgets in February after state cutbacks. The stimulus money is just a patch, but the money is available until the end of 2010 and may delay the most drastic cuts in service.

Then, there's California. This smoldering crisis goes back years, the way the state developed a tradition of overspending and overborrowing. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger took over a $16 billion budget deficit in 2003 and vowed to end the state's "crazy deficit spending." He didn't. According to the Associated Press, that deficit is expected to be $24 billion by the end of this fiscal year. Voters last week voted down a series of budget-balancing measures. Now there's nothing left to do but cut services to the bone. The AP's Juliet Williams writes that Schwarzenegger is threatening to end the state's welfare program, eliminate health coverage for 1.5 million poor children, stop cash grants for 77,000 college students, shorten the school year, lay off thousands of state employees and teachers, cut money for state parks, and release thousands of prisoners early. There's even a groundswell to call for a convention to rewrite the California Constitution, which could mean a complete overhaul of the way the state runs.

California might as well add "A State of Crisis" to its license plate. It's like tossing a rock into a pond and creating a tidal wave. If the AP's list I cited above comes to fruition, that will mean crises for hundreds of state and private agencies, colleges, public schools, and consumer products and services companies. Millions will face personal crises.

Businesses do the same thing California has been doing: Overspending, and then finding themselves in a deep hole when the economy tanks. I hope we've learned our lesson when good times return. When I was growing up, you could pretty much tell who were members of the Depression generation by the way they skimped, made do with worn-out stuff, and squirreled their savings away. Perhaps the generation coming of age in this economic mess also will be more careful in how they spend money throughout their lives. No matter how brightly the sun is shining today, there will certainly be a rainy day ahead. Plan for it, fiscally and in your communications.

WHO Encourages Pandemic Preparation; So Do We

The swine flu outbreak appears to be mild you say? The World Health Organization (WHO) is holding its World Health Assembly this week. This from the WHO web site (www.who.int/en):

"18 May 2009 -- The world is rightly concerned about the prospect of an influenza pandemic. When an infectious agent causes a global public health emergency, health moves straight to center stage, said Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan in her address today to the 62nd session of the World Health Assembly."

"This virus may have given us a grace period," Dr. Chan stated, "but we do not know how long this grace period will last. No one can say whether this is just the calm before the storm."

As of today, 40 countries have officially reported 9,830 cases of H1N1 influenza, and 79 have died, according to WHO statistics.

WHO advises us to take the pandemic threat seriously. If it's not this one, it could be the far-more-deadly H5N1 virus, the so-called bird flu, that as of yet can't be transferred from human to human. Use this "grace period" to make sure your plans are adequate to deal with a serious pandemic, perhaps by this fall. If your plan doesn't address the following issues, it's probably not detailed enough:

• A policy that enables employee absence due to sick family members or fear of catching the flu. If you have policies requiring a doctor's note after a certain number of days' absence, you have checked with Legal about suspending that requirement during a pandemic. You also know how you will handle paying or not paying employees during extended absences or if you have to close.


• You have determined a minimum number of employees required to operate your business and meet contractual customer needs, and you have a trained emergency labor pool (retirees and others) you can call to ensure you can serve your customers.


• You have investigated and implemented ways for employees to telecommute and have access to needed information at home.


• You have alternative suppliers on alert in case your usual suppliers must temporarily close.


• Your business has two months of cash on hand so that you can pay your bills and meet payroll in case you have to close, your customers can't pay you in a timely way, or the pandemic negatively affects the sale of your products or services.


• You have a crisis communications plan that includes reaching employees who are off work, lists of key contacts and backups, how you will reach all suppliers, and how to contact all customers.

Of course there is a lot more a workable pandemic plan needs. For a more in-depth (and scary)look at pandemic planning, see www.crisisexperts.com/memo1_main.html. I hope this will get you started thinking. If you need help or a fresh set of eyes to review your plan, the Institute for Crisis Management is experienced in such things. Get started before it's too late.

Hiding Important Truths From Key Stakeholders Is Like Playing with a Loaded Gun

A lack of two-way communications in the workplace is itself an example of a smoldering crisis. Managers can't manage a crisis if they don't know about it. Similarly, management can't manage a smoldering crisis if it chooses to ignore the crisis.


I received an anonymous e-mail last week from someone claiming to be a teacher here in Louisville, Kentucky. He/she came across my blog while searching for information about a recent event at his/her school. (I don't know the gender, so I'll use "he.") I won't mention the school so I don't jeopardize the anonymity of the writer, and because I don't have any way to verify the accusations. But I do want to pass along part of the message because there's an important learning from this.

The teacher wrote of a serious incident in the high school this spring. "The kids and staff have been instructed to not discuss the incidents.... (The) 'official' story was that the incident...was an accident, however in the days that followed what unfolded revealed it likely was NOT an accident. One of the young ladies involved (had) a 'hit list' of individuals she was targeting...."

The writer adds two other incidents of threatening behavior and violence in the school over a period of a few days. He accuses the district and principal, however, of imposing a gag order. (I don't know how you can successfully force several hundred high school students from talking to parents and others about violence at school, but okay, let's continue anyway.) "My students say it's all gang related but the HUSH HUSH has been put down on it...."

The teacher also wrote about a precautionary lockdown earlier in the school year that lasted quite a while after the initial threat was over. "...they were searching all areas with dogs because they feared gang related activity and that other students might be 'packing....' That is why we were locked down so long!... Why JCPS (the school district) chooses to 'cover up' what is behind this stuff. I don't understand, they just want people to keep sending their kids to school oblivious to the dangers that are there."

Again, I can't verify that these allegations are true. But I pass the message along so you can sense the emotion and frustration of working in an environment where communications are weak or intentionally throttled. Clearly this school is sitting on a potentially dangerous smoldering crisis, one that could boil over during these last two weeks of school. What if the district met the problems head-on, suspended and prosecuted the guilty parties, and showed the tax payers how it's doing its best to ensure the safety of their children? There would be less of a chance for further violence if the known offenders are gone. But if there were further violence, parents are more likely to blame the perpetrators and less likely to place most of the blame on the school. Under the existing scenario, if the e-mail writer is correct, more incidents and perhaps serious injuries are possible, and the public will be asking, "Why didn't you do something before?"

Whatever kind of setting you work in, do your best to enhance the flow of information throughout the organization. If you bury information, you may find yourself buried right next to it.

Learn How to Use Remote Control

American Cold Storage in Louisville suffered an ammonia leak late last week that left two maintenance employees dead. The leak was so bad that two days later, emergency responders in full gear were the only people allowed inside. I haven't heard an update for the past two days. As of Friday, the day after the leak, the company still didn't know a cause or even if ammonia was still leaking. Those outside the building occasionally could catch a whiff of ammonia from the building.

No one except American Cold Storage had to be evacuated. But they could have been, or they could have been ordered to shelter in place. What I want to remind you is that someone else's crisis could become your crisis. If you had to evacuate for several hours or a day or a week, would you still be able to function from a remote location? Do you have copies of your crisis plans in your car and in your home? What key documents do you need access to? Can you dial into your intranet from offsite? It doesn't matter that you don't handle hazardous materials. Other people close by do.

The Institute for Crisis Management a few months ago conducted a table-top emergency exercise with a client. In the middle of the crisis, we threw in a wrinkle: a truck carrying hazardous materials just overturned on the expressway near the client's offices and everyone had to evacuate immediately. This company was pretty well prepared to move offsite and still manage the original crisis. Most companies wouldn't have been able.

A real situation occurred several years ago. A client in suburban Boston experienced a workplace shooting that killed seven employees. Police sealed the building as a crime scene and employees couldn't get back in for about a week.

Everyone thinks it won't happen to them. Maybe it won't. But imagine how good you would feel if your facilities had to be evacuated and you were prepared. Be sure to arrange for a crisis center to be set up quickly in a remote location. Decide how all departments would access needed files and phone numbers. Then practice to make sure you've got it right.

Don't Get Caught Fiddling While Rome Burns

If you, reader, are kind enough to visit this site from time to time, you will think I sound like a broken record. (For you young people who have grown up in the DVD era, a broken record means -- aw, never mind.) But I can't help warning all the organizations out there another time: Get your pandemic plan ready!! For some ideas on the broad issues you must consider, see Institute for Crisis Management President Larry Smith's blog entry on pandemic planning on April 27 (http://crisisconsultants.blogspot.com/). Being prepared for the next pandemic is a whole lot more than stocking up on hand sanitizer and masks.

Think we don't need to take this so seriously? Pandemics in the past century (There have been three of varying severity.) come in three waves: a mild one, followed by a severe one with a much greater mortality rate a few months later, and then a third less virulent than the second. If we are experiencing the long-expected pandemic, we are in the mild wave #1 right now.

Here are the latest figures today from the World Health Organization: 30 countries have reported 4,694 confirmed cases of the H1N1 influenza. Fifty-three worldwide have died. The U.S. has gone well past Mexico in number of cases, 2,532 - 1,626. Mexico's death rate has been much greater, standing at 48 today, and there have been three in the States. Canada has had 284 confirmed cases with one death. Costa Rica has had just eight cases but one death.

If the second wave comes this fall, you better have a plan on how you will deal with cash flow, personnel policies and issues, and legal matters such as contracts. And remember that it's better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. If you don't believe me, talk to a KFC franchise owner.

How Not to Give Away Free Chicken

When Oprah speaks, people listen. When KFC gives away free food, people are on it in an instant.

The Colonel's restaurant paid Oprah to plug its new Kentucky Grilled Chicken on her program Tuesday. She pointed viewers to a web site, where they could download and print a coupon for free chicken, two individual sides, and a biscuit, good for 24 hours on Wednesday. According to ABC (http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=7527626&page=1), long lines were the norm and many KFC's stopped honoring the coupons. One franchise in New York City ran out of chicken, and angry people staged a sit-in.

Do you think the way KFC handled the crisis will cost the company business, short and long-term? Check out some comments from the aforementioned ABC site:

"I promised to my wife I will never .. ever buy another piece of chicken from KFC and I think we all should do the same.... I believ their chicken is hormon injected." (Santa Monica)

"we had to fill out rain checks and were told that they would not honor the coupons now even thou they had the grilled chicken for sale if you wanted to pay full price for it." (Ann Arbor)

"Instead they asked people to give them the coupon and fill out an address card, and a new coupon would be mailed to them. This was all done on faith as the customers were not given anything to proove that they ever had a coupon. This seems highly suspicious." (San Rafael, California)

"Very poor execution of a promotion and to top it off poor "spin conttrol" trying to cover this fact..."

"There were signs on the door and we were told immediately upon entry that "we're not allowed to take the coupons anymore" by a nice young server who looked stressed. There was no
overwhelming response that I could see, only a few people walking away with their coupons. What a disaster for KFC.... Their PR cover up is insulting b/c it's unbelievable." (Seattle)

"Sounds like KFC opened mouth and inserted foot on this one. Now instead of promoting their new product all they have done is left a bad taste in everyones mouth by false advertisement, as well as defaming Oprah's word! Good one KFC."

"just came back from 3 different KFC stores in my area with nothing in hand.all 3 of them had a sign on the window that, due to the overwhelming response, they'd honor the free meal offer during a set time period...."

"The KFC in Janesville WI wasn't offering rainchecks either. They only said they were discontineing the offer due to overwhelming resonse. They said they had over four hundred people in on Wednesday and they almost had to close the store because they weren't making any profit. The sign said they were ending the promotion at 4PM today."

That's enough to give you a flavor. A couple of the comments supported KFC, but most sounded angry and critical. So what can we learn from all this -- besides that people can't spell and punctuate?

First, when you get an idea, plan it through better. Play "What if?" What if we get 400 people at every restaurant? What if the paying customers won't wait in line and go elsewhere? Could we afford to lose that much revenue for a day? (I wonder: Does corporate reimburse franchise owners for all the free chicken and lost paying customers?) What if all 9% of the population who is unemployed is sitting home watching Oprah and decide a free meal is a sweet deal in these times?

Second, just because we communicate doesn't mean the message is received. I don't know how or what KFC communicated about this promotion to its franchisees. Were they told how to prepare, how to stock up, and what to expect? Or did this response catch corporate by surprise, too? And if the company did adequately inform its store owners, how many of them read and heeded the communications? Remember this when you have important messages to reach key stakeholders. Not everyone is going to read or react to our sterling prose. Based on the ABC comments, the crisis was handled differently in different cities, which should be a reminder to us that we need to have a plan ready before the crisis, not scramble around during the crisis. Plan and practice, people!

Thursday afternoon (probably 24 hours too late), KFC President Roger Eaton issued this statement: "We would like to apologize to our customers who have been inconvenienced by the overwhelming response to our free Kentucky Grilled Chicken offer. The lines of customers wanting to redeem their coupon have been out the door and around the block, so we're unable to redeem customer coupons at this time. Instead, we will be issuing rainchecks to customers which can be used at a later date." (I guess people who write for company presidents can't write either, as this dangling modifier suggests.)

"We're asking our customers to kindly visit their local KFC to find out more about rainchecks. For their inconvenience, we'll also be including a free Pepsi to go with their free Kentucky Grilled Chicken meal. We know that when people taste their free Kentucky Grilled Chicken, they're going to love it. We thank our customers for their understanding and patience." (See the video apology at http://www.kfc.com/coupons/raincheck.asp.)

And one more thing, because I expect this post to turn up in KFC's Google Alerts: Last fall, I carried-out a chicken sandwich here in Louisville. The bun was stale and crumbled apart in my hand. I had to eat the chicken plain. I was mad enough at the mess to call the KFC customer complaint line. I never heard a thing back from the company. I still eat at KFC, but was disappointed.