New Guidance At a Glance on the REMS TA Center Website

In 2019, the U.S. Department of Education (ED), Office of Safe and Supportive Schools (OSSS), with representatives from the U.S. Departments of Justice (DOJ), Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security (DHS), released The Role of Districts in Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans (District Guide). The REMS TA Center transformed this guidance document into a NEW “At a Glance” version on the REMS TA Center Website. This user-friendly, Web-based District Guide At a Glance section provides important safety, security, emergency management, and preparedness information to school district personnel in a digestible format.

Find this new section under the “Guidance” tab on the REMS TA Center Website’s upper navigation panel. Once the drop-down menu appears, click “K-12 District Emergency Management Planning.” From the landing page, you can progress through pages with the “Next” and “Previous” buttons at the bottom of the screen. Alternatively, you can navigate quickly to any page or subsection by clicking the green “Explore This Section” button, located at the top left of the screen. This user-friendly function opens a full navigation panel with hyperlinks to each page within the section so that users can jump directly to a subsection or page of interest.

Overview of the District Guide
The District Guide, which complements the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans (School Guide), provides information that can assist school districts in fulfilling both their individual and their shared emergency planning responsibilities in school emergency operations plan (EOP) development, continual enhancement, and implementation. The District Guide recommends specific roles and responsibilities for district-level administrators and staff for a range of threats and hazards. The District Guide follows the same planning principles and process as featured in the School Guide, but with tailored information for school district-level personnel to assist school planning teams throughout the process.

Watch the 75-minute Webinar New Resource Review: The Role of Districts in Supporting Schools in the Development of High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans, which the REMS TA Center hosted and is now archived on the Website for viewing at any time. This Webinar provides an overview of the District Guide and includes video features and highlights from representatives of ED’s OSSS, DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, and DHS’s Federal Emergency Management Agency.

More Guidance At a Glance Sections
The District Guide At a Glance joins two other Web-based At a Glance sections on the REMS TA Center Website, both of which are based on higher ed and school safety, security, emergency management, and preparedness planning guidance that was released jointly by six Federal agencies in 2013. Access these easy-to-read At a Glance sections via the “Guidance” tab of the Website’s upper navigation panel or via their descriptions below.

• School Guide At a Glance — School planning teams can use information in this section to create new school EOPs; revise and update existing plans; and align their emergency planning practices with those at the national, state, and local levels. This HTML version of the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans (School Guide) is accessible via “K-12 School Emergency Management Planning” in the “Guidance” tab of the Website’s upper navigation panel.
   
• IHE Guide At a Glance — Institution of higher education (IHE) planning teams can use this information to create new higher ed EOPs; revise and update existing plans; and align their emergency planning practices with those at the national, state, and local levels. This HTML version of the Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Institutions of Higher Education (IHE Guide) is accessible via “Higher ed Emergency Management Planning” in the “Guidance” tab of the Website’s upper navigation panel.

If you have any questions or need additional assistance,
please contact the REMS TA CENTER at 1-855-781-REMS [7367]
or via email at info@remstacenter.org