# Presentation: 041577

## One Grantee’s Story: Developing An Emergency Management Plan From Start To Finish  FY 2007 Initial Grantee MeetingDecember 5 – 7, 2007 ~ San Diego, California

**U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools**
- 400 Maryland Avenue, SW / Washington, DC 20202

**Steven McElroy**
- Director, Safety & Security
- Columbus Public Schools

## Presentation Goals

- Demonstrate how one grantee used the ERCM/REMS grant to develop and expand upon a comprehensive emergency management plan for the district
- Provide strategies for engaging Community Partners in the formation of emergency management plans
- Outline key components of the Columbus City Schools emergency management plan
- Review strategies and suggestions for making plans compliant with the National Incident Management System
- Offer key tips for implementation

## Overview of Columbus City  Schools (CCS)

- Approximately 57,000 students  in 128 schools, including eighteen high schools and four career centers.
- A diverse school system with over 100 languages or dialects being the native language of students.
- Large population of Somali students and a growing number of Hispanic students.

## CCS Department of Education Grants

- 2003 grant focused upon literature review of school emergency plans, developing and conducting a school safety assessment with the help of community partners, incorporating incident command into school and district plans, training staff in IS-100 and 700, and developing an Emergency Operations plan for the district
- 2005 grant trained school staff for Medical Disaster Response Teams, Critical Incident Stress Management as well as school-based Incident Command
- 2005 grant has focused on preparing the school district for the possibility of a pandemic event

## Where to Start

- Assess where your district currently stands in emergency management.
- Look at what your state department of education has developed for schools.
- There is a lot of good information out there.  Don’t reinvent the wheel. Remember, you need to develop your own model and program, one that will work for you.
- The *Practical Information on Crisis Planning Guide* should be your number one guide.
- All grantees should be NIMS compliant and provide NIMS training for their districts.
- Examine the relationships you currently have with your community partners.

## Building Relationships

- Identify Community Partners.
- Reach out to them!  Make a date and time to meet at their establishment and explain your goals.
- Discuss how your grant may be of mutual benefit.
- Schedule regular community partner meetings (quarterly).
- Arrange a meeting between Executive Staff from Community Partner Agencies and School Administration.

## Develop Your Evaluation Early

- Develop goals and objectives that are realistic and achievable.
- Review your evaluation instrument every three months.
- Review all GPRA measures in the beginning and make sure your data and evaluation will  help you meet your GPRA Performance Objectives

## Sequence of Emergency Management

-  Mitigation-Prevention
-  Preparedness
-  Response
-  Recovery

## Mitigation-Prevention

- The goal of mitigation is to decrease the need for response as opposed to simply increasing response capability.
- Connect with community emergency responders to identify local hazards.
- Review the most recent safety audit to examine school buildings and grounds.
- Determine who is responsible for overseeing violence prevention strategies in your school.
- Encourage staff to provide input and feedback during the crisis planning process.
- Review incident data.
- Determine major problems in your school with regard to student crime and violence.
- Assess how the school addresses these problems.
- Conduct an assessment to determine how these problems, as
- 	well as others, may impact your vulnerability to certain crises.

## Building Assessments

**For NIMS Compliance**
- School districts are to assess and evaluate their incident response and management capabilities.
- From this assessment, preparedness recommendations and an Emergency Operations Plan for schools and district are to be developed.
- Emergency Operations Plans are to be reviewed yearly to determine if there are unmet requirements.

## Building Assessment

- Identify an assessment instrument for your school.
- Use this form every year.
- Meet with the crisis team at each individual school.
- Use the results to drive your emergency management efforts.

## Parts of the CCS Assessment  

**Mitigation-Prevention**
- Building Crisis Plans
- Supervision/surveillance
- Physical Plant
**Preparedness**
- Logs and Drills
**Response**
- Medical Team
- Safety Team
**Recovery**
- CARE Team

## The Instrument

## The Instrument

## Lessons Learned

- Only four of 142 buildings were aware of where the gas, electric and water shutoffs were located.
- Most schools were not practicing the six nationally recognized emergency drills, evacuation, reverse evacuation, shelter-in-place, lockdown, duck, cover and hold, and hit the deck. Many schools were still using codes instead of plain language.
- Many schools were not evacuating far enough during drills.
- In most schools, the only people who knew the school’s emergency plan were the administrators.
- Many schools did not have a controlled access policy.
- There were limited provisions in our crisis plans for special needs and ESL students.

## Tips for Success

- Know/learn the resources within your district and community.
- Track all data correctly.
- Keep to your timeline.
- Receive a commitment from your district...other than dollars!
- Learn from others, but develop a plan to fit your district.

## Preparedness

- Good planning will facilitate a rapid, coordinated, effective response when an emergency occurs.
- Determine what emergency plans exist in the school, district, and community.
- Identify all stakeholders involved in emergency management.
- Develop procedures for communicating with staff, students, families, and the media.
- Establish procedures to account for students during an emergency.
- Gather information about the school facility, such as maps and the location of utility shutoffs.
- Identify the necessary equipment that needs to be assembled to assist staff in a crisis.

## Preparedness

**DRILLS**
- Use plain language/no codes!
- Uniform across district
- Involve your local response agencies

## Preparedness

**Drills**
- Evacuation
- Reverse Evacuation
- Lock Down
- Shelter-in-Place
- Duck, Cover, and Hold
- Hit the Deck

**Other Responses**
- Cancel school before it starts
- Early release
- Relocation
- Activation of Incident Command System

## Plans for Special Needs Students

- Have you assessed all of your drills to include special needs students?
- What special considerations have you made?
- Are your first responders aware of your special needs population?
- Never leave these students alone.
- Review the special school plans.

## Prevention Tips

- Develop a schedule for schools to follow to practice emergency drills on a regular basis.
- Track all drills for each school on a database to determine baseline time needed to complete drills and areas in need of improvement.
- Work closely with special education experts to keep special needs students safe and adapt emergency procedures to meet their needs.
- Communicate with local police, fire and emergency management about drill procedures and seek their input.

## Response

- A crisis is the time to follow the emergency plan and make use of your preparations.
- Determine if an emergency is occurring.
- Identify the type of emergency that is occurring and determine the appropriate response.
- Activate the Incident Management System.
- Ascertain whether an evacuation, reverse evacuation, lock-down, or shelter-in-place needs to be implemented.
- Maintain communication among all relevant staff at officially designated locations.
- Establish what information needs to be communicated to staff, students, families, and the community.
- Monitor how emergency first aid is being administered to the injured.
- Decide if more equipment and supplies are needed.

## Response

- What is your responsibility?
- Act and react
- Perform as you were trained
- Accept help and relinquish command and control when professional help arrives

## NIMS Compliance for Schools

- School districts assess and evaluate their incident response and management capabilities.
- From this assessment, an Emergency Operations Plan for schools and district is developed.
- School personnel are trained at the NIMS 700 and NIMS 800 levels.
- NIMS ( National Incident Management System ) is incorporated into existing training programs and exercises.
- Schools work with community partners developing Emergency Operations Plans.
- Emergency Operations Plans are reviewed yearly to determine if there are unmet requirements.
- Local school boards adopt a board policy implementing NIMS Incident Command.
- Know the District’s state/local requirements to ensure that each school system is compliant.

## Incident Command: Why Are We Doing This?

- It is required for recipients of preparedness funding.
- It works.
- Establishes clear focus on objectives and lines of authority
- Helps entities to establish response roles and capabilities before an incident
- It saves lives and money.
- Lessons learned
- Practicing and drilling

## Incident Command

- A commonly accepted plan for disaster incident management that assigns tasks and allows for rapid, expert decision making.
- Enhances communication at the incident site within each agency and between agencies.
- The Incident Commander is responsible until the authority is delegated to another person.
- The Incident Command Post is where the primary administrative functions are coordinated.
- Incident command can be used for fires and     earthquakes, as well normal city events.

## Threat Levels Used at CCS

**Level- I Monitor**: Potential crisis; notify necessary staff
***Examples:*** *threatening weather; monitor weather radio.*
**Level II- Standby:** Potential or low level crisis; put parts of team on standby or notify team to be prepared.
***Examples:*** *tornado watch; let staff know that it may become necessary to move if a tornado is sighted.*
**Level III- Emergency: ***Full crisis, activate Command Post*
***Examples:**** tornado warning, tornado sirens going off; duck and cover, get to tornado stations if you have time.*

## Incident Command Organization at CCS Building Site 

- Command Staff
- Incident Commander (always staffed in ICS applications)
- Liaison Officer
- Public Information Officer
- Safety Officer
- Scribe
- General Staff
- Operations Section Chief
- Logistics Section Chief
- Planning Section Chief
- Finance Section Chief

## Incident Command SystemBuilding Level

## School Incident Command System

**Incident Commander/Principal**** **
- Is in charge of any crisis until appropriate an emergency responder arrives.
- Assesses level of danger and determines level of threat.
- Establishes inner and outer perimeter and summons additional help.
*At level three,* the Incident Commander establishes a command post and summons the Incident Command Management Team to the command post.**  **

## Operations Teams Utilized at CCS

- Medical Disaster Response Team
- Care Team
- Safety Team

## Medical Disaster Response Team 

- School nurse leads this team and coordinates its training.
- Team identifies necessary staging areas, personnel, and supplies.
- Team receives training in First Aid, CPR, AED and Triage.
- Team is responsible for triaging and treating all casualties until outside assistance arrives and takes over.
- Team documents all treatment activities.

## Student Care Team

- School counselor leads this team and coordinates this training.
- Team identifies personnel, supplies and necessary staging areas.
- Team counsels traumatized students and staff.
- Team coordinates aftermath procedures for students/ school staff.
- Team assists with student accountability, reunification, and release.

## Student Accountability Coordinator

- Operates under direction of Student Care Team Leader.
- Responsible for accounting for and tracking the location and disposition of all students.

## Safety Team

- School Safety and Security Officer leads this team and coordinates its training.
- Coordinates functions of site security (parental management, violence, crowd control).
- Team creates a Manpower Pool.
- Secures evacuation site, assists in evacuation, informs safety officer of any unsafe conditions.
- Assists building in reviewing the crisis plans.

## Manpower Pool Coordinator

- Operates under the direction of the Safety Team Leader.
- Responsible for assembling and tracking use of staff members assigned to the Manpower Pool.

## General Staff Assignments

- Everyone has an assignment  - i.e., specific Incident Command role, team assignment, classroom coverage, or Manpower Pool.
- Classroom Coverage – specifically list who will cover which classrooms.
- Manpower Pool – specifically assign all staff not given Incident Command roles, team assignments, or classroom coverage assignments to Manpower Pool.

## Incident Command System

- Sites and staging areas should be pre-planned with back ups.
- Command Post
- Triage
- Student Accountability
- Care Team
- Manpower Pool
- Whole school relocation sites

## Staging Areas

- The location where personnel and equipment are kept while waiting for assignments.
**Command Post** staging area
**Triage** staging area
**Care Team** staging area
**Security Team** staging area
**Manpower Pool** staging area
**Relocation Site**

## Incident Action Plan

- Measurable strategic operations to be achieved within the specified period.
- To be filled out by each command and general command officer for any objectives they have developed and implemented during a crisis.

## Response Tips

- Develop Operations Teams which will fit the needs of your district.
- Work with community partners to access training opportunities at low or no-cost for your staff, such as local health departments, Red Cross, emergency management and state or local homeland security.
- Partner with first responders to be included in local or regional disaster drills.

## Recovery

- During recovery, return to learning and restore the infrastructure as quickly as possible.
- Strive to return to learning as quickly as possible.
- Restore the physical plant, as well as the school community.
- Monitor how staff are assessing students for the emotional impact of the crisis.
- Identify what follow up interventions are available to students, staff, and first responders.
- Conduct debriefings with staff and first responders.
- Assess curricular activities that address the crisis.
- Allocate appropriate time for recovery.
- Plan how anniversaries of events will be commemorated.
- Capture "lessons learned" and incorporate them into revisions and trainings.

## Action Steps:Immediately After the Crisis

- Prepare for 3 levels of intervention:
- 	Tier 1 – General School-Based Interventions
- 		      Psycho-education, triage and assessment
- 		      Supportive environment
- 	Tier 2 – School-Based Interventions
- 		      Trauma and grief – focused counseling
- 		      Short-term group or individual counseling
- 	Tier 3 – Specialized Community-Based Interventions
- 		      Referral to on or off-site mental health services

## Tips for Recovery

- Use the expertise of your district’s counseling staff to develop a recovery plan.
- Community partners such as local health departments and the Red Cross have a wealth of material which can be included in your recovery plans.

## What CCS Accomplished

- Conducted an emergency management assessment by interviewing a building team at 142 CPS buildings
- Generated a recommendations report from our building assessments
- Organized a collaborative Community Partner Group with bi-monthly meetings
- Provided every school, through FEMA funds, a building first aid bag, CARE team bag, and Medication bag
- Cross trained 235 counselors, nurses and security specialists in Incident Command, Incident Stress Management, first aid, CPR, AED and Triage training
- Trained 1838 staff members to serve on Medical Disaster Response Teams.
-       Trained Medical Teams, CARE Teams and Safety Teams in every school
- All Safety and Security Specialist have had First Aid, CPR, AED, Triage, Critical Incident Stress Management, CERT Training, IS 100, and IS 700 training
- Trained 5100 district employees at the IS 100 Level
- Trained 759 bus drivers in IS 100 and School Bus Watch

## Crisis Management Loop

- Completing the Crisis Management Plan might seem like the end, but it is also the beginning.
- The “Plan” is a work in progress. Evaluate each incident with an after action report.  What worked? What didn’t?  How could you improve operations?
- Update and strengthen the plan so that in a crisis, no child is left behind.

##  

QUESTIONS??

**QUESTIONS??**