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Using the Guide
This
Emergency Response Guide template is designed to
assist schools and districts in the creation and use
of custom-made Emergency Response Plans. As
mentioned previously, this template is organized
around four distinct planning venues or
phases of
emergency management; they are:
1.
Mitigation/
Prevention
2.
Preparedness
3.
Response
4.
Recovery.
This
planning protocol allows the school district and
individual schools to customize their plans to
address the unique needs of their specific
location. This template, however, allows this
planning to be done in a consistent manner (planning
format) district wide.
New
“best practices” for handling emergency situations
become available on an ongoing basis, and new
emergency situations emerge over time. Therefore,
this guide should always be a “working document,”
and after initial completion, should be updated on a
regular basis. This should become a real
“Living/Working Document”.
District Preparedness
– District
Support Team
Consistency of the school and district plans is of
utmost importance. District
preparedness should
begin with the superintendent and School Board
making a firm decision to update the district’s
Emergency Response Plan, and communicating that
decision to staff. The next step is forming a
District Support Team to begin the planning process
(superintendent, building and grounds, security,
transportation, student support, mental health,
social work, maintenance, administrators located in
the school setting, etc.).
Next, the district should identify local community
agencies that can be invited to the planning process
(police, fire department, emergency medical,
hospitals, mental health, public health,
local/regional emergency management agency, etc.).
The superintendent should delegate one person (a
district employee with at least one back up) to have
primary responsibility for overseeing the process of
adapting this guide to local needs.
There is no “cookie cutter” approach
that will fit all districts or schools. Schools and
districts should use this document as a basis from
which a local plan can be derived. This individual
(and his/her back-up) will serve as a liaison
between district employees,
community representatives and will have
responsibility to convene and lead meetings, to set
a timeline for plan development and to direct
changes to be made in the district’s emergency
response plan.
The
District Support Team should review the contents of
this Emergency Management Resource Guide and conduct
a review of area hazards (i.e., areas of potential
flooding, factories with dangerous chemicals, mines,
areas prone to severe weather conditions, etc.). It
would be helpful to check with the local Office of
Emergency Management,
Office of Homeland Security
and other local response partners to see what type
of hazard assessment they have already conducted in
and around your schools. The Team should then
review and modify each emergency protocol to reflect
local needs and circumstances in order to prevent
and/or mitigate the impact of an emergency should
one arise.
Since job titles in different districts may have
very different meanings, throughout the guide the
district team will need to update local school
district job titles using appropriate local terms
(some schools and districts have found it
constructive to follow the titles utilized within
the Incident Command System (ICS)
National Incident
Management System (NIMS). Each of these titles has a
specific role during an emergency and is directed by
the Incident Commander (typically the building
principal until he/she transfers this responsibility
to someone else depending upon the nature of the
emergency). |
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It is important to
note that at the present time the only school
districts that are required to fully comply with the
NIMS requirements are those districts that are
receiving funding under the Emergency Response and
Crisis Management Grant program (Office of Safe and
Drug-Free Schools) through the U.S. Department of
Education. Regardless of the grant funding status,
serious consideration should be given to using this
structure in as much that it will provide
consistency and
will be aligned with local
responders who are required to
use this planning and response configuration. For
more specific information on NIMS for schools go to
http://www.training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS100SC.asp
Upon completing the
revision of this guide, the District Support Team’s
role changes to that of support and leadership. The
District Support Team functions to assist schools in
the coordination and allocation of needed resources
when the need imposed by the current situation
exceeds the school’s normal resources.
School-Centered Planning
After the District
Support Team has completed its revision of the
guide, each school and support building should
create a site-specific Emergency Response Plan. To
do this, the school will need to establish an
Emergency Management Response Team to review their
site’s existing emergency plan, or to develop a new
plan using this guide as a model. Using the
outline, sample forms, and protocols provided in the
district’s updated guide, schools can create an
emergency plan which includes a designated chain of
command, specific roles for team members, and school
specific procedures to implement in the event of an
emergency.
Each school district
will need to determine how best to conduct the
training and implementation process in individual
schools. For smaller districts, the district team
may be able to assist on a school-by-school basis.
Larger districts will need a more coordinated and
systematic way to conduct training for
school-centered teams to better prepare them to
adapt the district plan to their individual school
needs.
Communication and
Practice
The final step in the
emergency response planning process is to
communicate and practice the plan. The District
Support Team holds the responsibility to assist each
school in conducting awareness trainings and in
practicing various elements of emergency protocols.
While most schools are adept at practicing
techniques such as fire drills and severe weather,
most are not well rehearsed in planning for such
events as a chemical release, threats to self or
others, intruders and other possible emergencies,
This Guide represents an
effort to bring together elements of an
all-hazards approach to emergency management for
natural, technological, climate and culture,
infrastructure, non-structural, biological, physical
well being and man made incidents.
Summary
In summary, the process
of using this guide involves the following three
steps. Suggestions will be provided throughout this
template to assist districts in adapting the guide
for local use.
A District Support
Team, in collaboration with community partners
creates a district model emergency response plan.
It is important to base the plan(s) upon this
template, but tailored to local needs.
The District coordinates
training for
School-Centered Emergency Response
Teams to adapt the district guide for
school-specific needs.
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