9.26.14 How Prepared Is Your School for a Disaster?
National Preparedness Month is September. The theme for 2014 is “Be Disaster Aware, Take Action to Prepare.” This is an opportunity to consider what simple, specific actions individuals, families and communities can take to increase emergency preparedness –anything ranging from earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornados, wildfires, and winter storms. If you do have a plan in place, this is a good time to remind everyone of their role in emergency plans, policies, and procedures.
National Preparedness Month culminates on September 30 with National PrepareAthon! Day. It’s not too late to review your policies and be sure everyone has the right information they need to respond as a team.
TOOLS & RESOURCES:
Consider an assessment of your understanding of elements critical to the process of creating and maintaining a high-quality emergency operations plan (EOP).
- Visit the Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center or REMS TA Center website to start assessing your understanding of fundamental emergency management planning concepts and to learn about planning tools the TA Center is developing.
- EOP Assess is an interactive tool that supports individuals and planning teams at K-12 schools, school districts, and IHEs as they engage in this important preparedness activity.
- The EOPGuides: The Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans and the Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Institutions of Higher Education provide the foundation for this HTML-based tool.
- NEA HIN has created The School Crisis Guide to foster the creation of crisis teams with the ideas, tips, tools, and, resources that spur effective leadership and crisis management. Knowing what to do in a crisis can be the difference between stability and upheaval. This step-by-step resource created by educators for educators can make it easier for union leaders, school district administrators, and principals to keep schools safe — before, during and after a crisis.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers additional resources for a variety of natural disasters and other crisis situations for which schools must be prepared. We encourage you to communicate with others on the topic of preparedness, to engage in a preparedness activity, and to utilize the available free resources to support your efforts available at www.ready.gov/prepare.
- Additional FEMA Resources: “How to Get Involved” quick guide and a Digital Engagement Toolkit.
Posted by Libby Nealis
on September 26, 2014