What is an exceptional event?

Exceptional events are rare – and often sudden – events that affect most or all of the school.

A few examples

An individual who tries to kidnap a student in the schoolyard in front of their peers, an earthquake that occurs during school hours and causes injuries, a young person who disappears, a student found dead in the woods near the school.

Most schools have protocols, but they often fail to devote sufficient time to these protocols during the school year. This often results in messy situations when an event actually occurs.

Schools should be prepared for an exceptional event to happen on any given day, although proper preparation does not entail a state of continuous alert. Knowing that these events could happen is enough to grasp the importance of proper preparation.

An exceptional event:

• is out of the ordinary.
• disrupts everyday life.
• affects many people.
• engages multiple stakeholders.
• is subject to media coverage.
• is complex.

Even if the event meets only a few of these criteria, it is still an exceptional event.

An exceptional event is not:

• an event in an individual’s personal life which has no collective impact.
• internal to a single family with no impact on the school community.
• an event which, for specific reasons, must remain confidential and managed in a limited manner.

The app cannot be used for such an event. Here is an example of an event that is not an exceptional event but deserves special attention.