The narrator is actor Edward James Olmos. The film combines television news clippings of actual school crisis events with comments and recommendations from school principals. Recommendations from educators include establishing visor screening procedures, developing a school safety plan, setting up a two-way intercom system for each room, and developing an emergency signal such as a buzzer to alert teachers that an emergency has occurred and that they should keep their students in the classroom. Additional recommendations are to give police a blueprint of the school, assign prearranged roles for staff to assume in an emergency, teach children to listen to adults, take charge immediately if a crisis occurs, establish procedures to identify dead or wounded persons, verify absent children, and establish a media command post. Further actions should include interventions to help children, staff, parents, and the community deal with the psychological impacts of the crisis; reopening the school as soon as possible; and using rituals and symbols to aid the grieving process.