Every school district should have a published Crisis Management Plan that is fully understood by all principals and administrators.  In many states, State Safety Standards or recommendations are available.  In most cases, if such standards exist, they should be incorporated into the Crisis Management Plan.  By adopting accepted industry standards, districts minimize exposure to litigation, as well as improving the odds of successfully dealing with a crisis.

Occasionally outside domestic situations arise which result in immediate temporary risk to students.  For instance, a parent of a student may call in to advise that an estranged spouse has threatened to go to the school and remove their child--or attempt a domestic kidnapping.  Particularly in elementary schools, middle schools and junior high schools, there should be a method for administrative personnel to communicate an immediate "lockdown" order to all teachers and staff.  Often a discreetly-coded low key announcement on the school's public address system is the easiest way to order this action.  ("Mr. Jones is now in the building," or "All teachers will be expected to attend the domestic review meeting after school," etc.)  Lockdown policies should be written policies.

It is highly recommended that a workplace violence preparedness program be considered, since this hazard is increasing in all work environments and today the single highest cause of death in the workplace for females in the U. S. is homicide.  Specifically, it is recommended that in the event of a possibility of spillover domestic violence involving a teacher or employee working in schools, the at-risk employee be placed on leave and removed from the school until the exposure has passed, thus immediately eliminating risk to students.  Policy should require that employees report situations such as this which could increase risk to students.