Prevention
activities are the corner stone of creating
effective "Emergency Response" plans for the school
district, individual schools and the community.
While schools and communities will have little
control over some hazards that could impact them,
(plane crash, industrial accident, weather related
events, etc.) there are actions that can be taken to
reduce the impact of such events. Other events such
as bomb threats, fights, intruders, and vandalism
are more likely to occur and actions can be taken to
minimize the likelihood of their occurrence. The
first rule of thumb in this process is to not work
alone. In order to effectively develop a viable plan
of action you will need the input from a variety of
individuals (local emergency response agencies,
local/regional emergency management personnel,
hospital/medical staff, mental health and local
government representatives).
Let’s take a closer look at each of
these elements:
Mitigation is the
action schools and districts take to eliminate or
reduce the loss of life and property damage related
to an event that cannot be prevented.
Mitigation refers to actions taken
to reduce the adverse effect of an emergency.
Mitigation measures can be implemented before,
during or recovering from an emergency. Following a
school safety assessment conducted in the
"mitigation and prevention" phase, measures can be
taken to eliminate or minimize the hazards that have
been identified. The main thing to remember is that
mitigation activities refer to any sustained action
implemented to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to
life and property related to events that cannot be
prevented. Mitigating emergencies is also important
from a legal standpoint. If a school, district, or
state does not take all necessary actions in good
faith to create safe schools, it could be vulnerable
to a negligence law suit.
Prevention is the action
schools and districts take to decrease the likelihood
that an event or crisis will occur.
Prevention can best be described as
a set of pro-active strategies that will enhance the
safe and orderly learning environment at the
district and school building levels.
Some examples of these pro-active
steps for mitigation/prevention would be:
Conduct a Safe
School Assessment
Review discipline
referral data for trends
Conduct regular
safety checks (building and grounds
walk through)
Communication
protocols for staff, students,
caregivers and the community at
large
Food preparation
protocols
Pandemic Flu
preparations
Limited access
policies
Anti-bullying,
anti-violence programs
Pro-social skills
curriculum
Wellness activities
Bolting bookshelves
to the wall
Fencing hazardous
areas
Applying Crime
Prevention Through Environmental
Design (CPTED) principles to school
grounds and structures
Student supervision
protocols (consistency by all staff)
Discipline protocols
(understanding and consistency by
all staff)
Mail handling
Building access
control measures
Student accounting
Wellness activities
(such as drug/alcohol prevention,
mental health services, etc.)
When an agreed upon list of issues
has been established, strategies and corresponding
activities can be implemented. Anti-bullying
programs, drug and alcohol prevention programming,
school wide discipline programming, and required
staff supervision schedules are strategies that can
be implemented to assist in the Prevention phase of
the plan. Only those strategies that have been
validated or proven to be effective should be
utilized.
