School Emergency Management:

An Overview For State Coordinators

Office of Safe and Healthy Students (OSHS)

Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE)

U.S. Department of Education (ED)

What is a School Emergency Management Plan?

A School Emergency Management plan:

Is the first step to securing our schools

and protecting the school community;

Addresses a wide range of events

(natural, man-made); and

Addresses events that occur both in and

outside of the school and school day2

Comprehensive School Emergency Management Plan• Uses an all-hazards approach

• Developed with community partners

• Based on vulnerability assessment and tailored to the individual district, school, and campus

• Practiced consistently, reviewed, revised

• Framed by the four phases

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The Four Phases of SchoolEmergency Management

What is the Prevention-Mitigation Phase?

Prevention is the action schools and districts take to decrease the likelihood that an event or crisis will occur

Mitigation actions are steps that eliminate or reduce the loss of life or property damage for events that cannot be prevented (e.g., natural disasters)

Many hazards have both components

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What is the Preparedness Phase?

The Preparedness phase is designed to facilitate a rapid, coordinated and effective response

The school community is strengthened by coordinating with community partners on: • Developing an emergency plan, policies

and protocols • Adopting the National Incident Management

System (NIMS) and the Incident Command System (ICS)

• Training, exercising, and revising the plan

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What is the Response Phase?

When emergency management plans are activated to effectively contain and resolve an emergency

Response actives Activate the plan and the incident

command system (ICS) Activate the communication plans Deploy resources Account for students and staff and

activate the family reunification 7

Recovery Phase

Designed to assist students, staff, and their families in the healing process and to restore operations in schools

Has four primary components: Physical/structural recovery Business/fiscal recovery Academic recovery Psychological/emotional recovery

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Drills and Exercises

Types: Evacuation drills Lockdown drills Shelter-in-Place

Include community partners

Inform plan revisions and new efforts to work as a team

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Action Steps: What You Can Do Now

Identify and reach out to your State

Education Agency’s Emergency

Manager

Include them in planning meetings

Work with them to ensure all of the

local liaisons are working with the local

school district’s emergency manager 10

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments• Funded by the U.S. Department of

Education’s Office of Safe and Healthy Students and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Mental Health Promotion Branch of SAMHSA

• Provides training and support to states, including the 11 grantees funded under the Safe and Supportive Schools Program, and their participating Local Education Agencies (districts)

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National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments• Provides information and technical assistance

to community colleges, institutions of higher education, schools, districts, communities, states and other federal grantee programs regarding the improvement of conditions for learning.

• Goal is to improve conditions for learning in a variety of settings, through measurement and program implementation, so that all students have the opportunity to realize academic success in safe and supportive learning environments.

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Safe and Supportive Schools TA Center http://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov

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The REMS TA Center http://rems.ed.gov

The REMS TA Center: Supports schools, school districts, and

institutions of higher education Supports the development and

implementation of comprehensive all-hazards emergency management plans

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The REMS TA Center http://rems.ed.gov

The REMS TA Center: Provides information about school

emergency management (publications, webinars, training, resource repository)

Helps ED coordinate technical assistance meetings and share school emergency management information

Responds to direct requests for technical assistance and training on school emergency management

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Additional Resources

ED’s Emergency Planning (the Office of Safe and Healthy Students) http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/emergencyplan/index.html

The American Clearinghouse on Educational Facilities (ACEF) http://www.acefacilities.org/

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