What a horrific situation we’ve recently faced here in the Bay Area. After the PG&E explosion, dozens of homes were destroyed, several residents died, and schools were impacted immediately. It makes us stop and ask ourselves, “How do we cover tragedies in our yearbook?”

You may even wonder if you should include it at all. The answer is yes. If it impacts your school in any way, you need to find a place for it. Consider 9/11. Pretty much every school in the country included that event in their 2001 yearbook.

So HOW do you cover these topics with dignity and sensitivity?

First, consider how close your school is to the event. The schools in the immediate San Bruno area will have a different response just like the schools in Lower Manhattan did on 9/11. So coverage will be different if your school actually lost students in the tragedy compared to your students having a clothing drive to help the people who lost their homes.

Basically, how did a particular event spawn action on campus? Did they organize a blood drive (high schools)? Collect canned foods? Serve as a shelter? Interview the ASB students who put together the fundraiser. Take pictures of students signing a giant card for an affected classmate.

Ultimately, you are recording a piece of history in your book. During the 2008 wildfires, Governor Schwarzenegger visited several schools throughout the state. Yearbook photographers were on hand to take pictures at school assemblies and writers quoted some of his words of encouragement. One school in San Diego photographed a student as she packed the most important items she would take with her during an evacuation.

This, of course, reminds us of the sensitivity involved with such topics. Be sure to ask permission from any direct victims. It is highly insensitive to photograph a student while he waits outside the counselor’s office the day after he lost his entire home in a fire. It is far more appropriate to take a picture of several students dropping spare change in a water bottle during a fundraiser.

Finally, be sure to make contact with your local newspapers to see if they will let you reprint some of their pictures in your yearbook. Obviously, that is a safer alternative than sending students to the location.

The emotions are raw right after a tragedy takes place, so remind yourself that the book will not come out in print until June. There will be new perspectives and distance by then. But also use that time to develop policies for your yearbook BEFORE tragedy strikes. How would you cover a suicide on campus? A student killed in a car accident? A teacher who succumbs to a long illness? By knowing what to do before it happens, you are less likely to run into challenges and confusion when tragedy strikes.