# Presentation: 301350

## Local Perspective on the  National Incident Management System

- Joseph Mastandrea
- Orange County, FL Public Schools

## Agenda

- Not another unfunded mandate!
- Now what do I do?
- Hey, this stuff works!

**Notes:**
Why we’re here: over 50 million school children are entrusted to schools’ care daily.  Despite our best efforts at security and emergency planning, incidents occur.  When they do, we need to be ready to respond in a way that complements our public safety partners.   IC allows the seamless cooperation and shared incident objectives that our communities expect and deserve.

You may not be saying, “Not another unfunded mandate.”  Your audience may not say it.  But they’ll probably think it.  We need to stress the realm of benefits that IC and NIMS provide.

Photo from an Orlando SWAT exercise at one of our middle schools.

## The Mandate

- HSPD-5 & HSPD-8
- Chemical incidents: 29 CFR 1910 (via 40 CFR 311)
- REMS

**Notes:**
The IC requirement is not new.  If you’ve taken the online Independent Study 100SC (IC for Schools), you’ve seen the presentation.  HSPD-5 and HSPD-8 have required IC since 2003.  SARA Title III has required IC at chemical incidents, including chemistry laboratory incidents, since 1986.  Again, the requirement isn’t new.

We’re all here as REMS Grantees, proof that this mandate can provide funding!

## Now What Do I Do?

- Get by with a little help from your friends
- In our case, Orange County Fire and Rescue and Orange County Office of Emergency Management

**Notes:**
Don’t go it alone!  Like Unified Command, you need to know how your community defines your role and needs.  Find out if law enforcement, fire or emergency management is reporting NIMS status for your community.  Then partner with them to construct your compliance activities.

For us, that meant going through the OCOEM, a division of OCFRD.  REMS requires partnership for a reason.  Our success, and our response partners success, are intertwined.

IAEM members may recognize Steve Detwiler of OCOEM in this picture taken at the community disaster exercise I mentioned in the last slide..  My apologies.

In all seriousness, many of you know Steve from his weekly IAEM compilations of EM news.  He’s also the mitigation and preparedness officer for OCOEM.  Work with your counterpart to ease implementation.

## Why Not Go It Alone?

- Roles determine training requirements
- EOC Obligations
- Shelter
- Transportation

**Notes:**
Compliance is a high bar for OCPS because of our role in hurricane response and recovery.  We have over 1,000 buses ready to assist in evacuations.  Many of our over 175 schools are primary, secondary, tertiary, pet-friendly, special needs or emergency worker shelters.

Photos taken at a coordination meeting (left) and training session (right) in the OC EOC.

## Why Not Go It Alone?

- Eventually, an incident will lead to 9-1-1
- We need to be prepared to be partners before we make that call

**Notes:**
We do our best to prepare to handle as much as we can but we can’t handle it all.  We will call 9-1-1.  When we do, we must speak the language of our response partners.

Citrus ES fire recovery photo

## Why Not Go It Alone?

- Points of distribution
- Exercising

**Notes:**
Many of our schools have also been identified as distribution sites for anything from ice and water after hurricanes to pharmaceuticals in biological incident response.

The more responder plans that you interact with, the more incident command training you will need.  And by training, I infer planning and exercising.  A plan is a doorstop until you’ve tried it and identified resource gaps which need addressing.

## Other Training Sources

- UASI or homeland security region
- Local Emergency Planning Committee
- Responder partners

**Notes:**
Your staff may not like taking courses online.  Instructors are available through these groups and your district may already be a member, partner or hold an MOU with:

UASI or homeland security region: GAO Report GAO-07-821T, “Status of School Districts Planning and Preparedness,” is a transcript of testimony before the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security.  It states that “...DHS program guidance does not clearly identify school districts as entities to which states and local governments may disburse grant funds.  Not all states receiving DHS funds are aware that such funding could be disbursed to school districts.  In addition to providing funding, the federal government assist school districts and schools in emergency management planning by providing resources such as guidance, training and equipment.”

In FL, each Regional Domestic Security Task Force includes a k-20 committee.

LEPC – created by the previously mentioned EPCRA, your district my be a member on one of these categories: transportation, community group and/or facility owner/operator

Photo from a recent IC/NIMS class at OCPS

## Training is not sufficient

- Your plans, training and resources must be tested
- Fix areas requiring correction
- Test again!

**Notes:**
Always begin with small drills.  A two-hour tabletop exercise can address many questions about the adequacy of your plan, training and resource levels.  Allow two hours and sit everyone around the table to describe their role and responsibility during a certain incident.  Address any issues that you discover before stepping up to a full scale exercise like the one pictured here.

OCPS assisted with the design and delivery of this exercise, which was paid for in part by grant funds arranged through our LEPC.  

Remember, when an incident occurs we will respond as we have PRACTICED.  We encourage our employees to use IC every day, as you’ll see in later slides.  Besides using a proven, scalable, objective-oriented management system, fluency in IC gives instant credibility to a school district employee when they interact with our response partners.

## Tools in the Toolbox

- Common terminology.
- Modular organization.
- Management by objectives.
- Reliance on an Incident Action Plan.
- Chain of command and unity of command.
- Unified command.
- Manageable span of control.

- Predesignated incident locations and facilities.
- Resource management.
- Information and intelligence management.
- Integrated communications.
- Transfer of command.
- Accountability.
- Mobilization.

**Notes:**
Schools need to know that all responders use these tools and that they are available to serve us.  Furthermore, this management system can be used on a daily basis.

## Hey, This Stuff Works!

**Safety Officer**

**Liaison Officer**

**Public ****Information ****Officer**

**Finance & ****Administration**

**Logistics**

**Planning**

**Incident Commander**

**Operations**

**Notes:**
You knew you were going to see this chart during this conference.  Perhaps you even anticipated seeing it today.

How do we make it attractive to adult learners who are concerned about reading and math and science scores?

## Applied to a Wedding

**Finance & ****Administration**
**Bride’s Father**

**Logistics**
**Catering Hall**

**Planning**
**Bride’s Mother**

**Incident Commander**
**Bride-to-Be**

**Operations**
**Bridegroom-to-Be**

**Notes:**
One way is to show that it is simply management by objectives, something that they already do in school every day.

When I instructed IC and NIMS I had principals request that I instruct their athletic staffs!

The first time incident command really made sense to me was when a firefighter described how he applied it to his daughter’s wedding.  You can appreciate that the Bride-to-Be set all of the incident objectives.  The Bridegroom-to-Be was Operations – tell him where to go, when to be there, and what to wear.  The bride’s mother did the in depth planning.  Flowers, music and the food were contracted through the catering hall.  And my firefighter friend paid for it all out of the Finance and Administration Section.

## Applied to a School

**Finance & ****Administration**
**AP**

**Logistics**
**AP**

**Planning**
**AP**

**Incident Commander**
**Principal**

**Operations**
**AP**

**Cheerleading**
**Coach**

**Band**
**Band Leader**

**Concessions**
**PTA**

**Football Operations**
**Coach**

**Notes:**
Adult learners need relevance.  Show them how this will solve a problem and you get the side benefit of meshing with community responders.

## Applied to a School

**Finance & ****Administration**
**AP**

**Logistics**
**AP**

**Planning**
**AP**

**Incident Commander**
**Principal**

**Operations**
**AP**

**Cheerleading**
**Coach**

**Band**
**Band Leader**

**Concessions**
**PTA**

**Football Operations**
**Coach**

**Trainer**

**Special Teams Coach**

**Defense Coach**

**Offense Coach**

**Notes:**
In real life we divide and conquer our tasks.  We use IC every day without knowing it!

## In Summary

- Not another unfunded mandate!
- Now what do I do?
- Hey, this stuff works!

**Notes:**
Photo from an Orlando SWAT exercise at one of our middle schools.

## Questions?

## Thanks!

- Joseph Mastandrea
- Orange County, FL Public Schools
- _[mastanj@ocps.net](mailto:mastanj@ocps.net)_
- 407-317-3200 x 2986