Visit the REMS TA Center Calendar to find trainings, web chats, conferences, and other stakeholder activities and events for K-12 and higher ed practitioners on comprehensive school safety topics. All events featured are FREE to participate in and range from virtual to in-person opportunities for engagement and professional development.
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Timeless School Safety Strategy Series: Focus on All-Hazards Emergency Planning
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It can be challenging for schools not to overfocus on specific hazards, such as potential severe weather events from the onset of spring or violent incidents that have impacted their school or other schools. Community pressure or other stakeholders may often influence the school to focus more time, effort, and resources on one threat or hazard that may have a lower probability of occurring than others. Remember that overplanning for one threat or hazard event may leave your school or district underprepared for threats and hazards that happen more frequently at your school, the community, or region.
A comprehensive school emergency planning process must consider various possible threats and hazards that may impact the school or district, addressing safety needs before, during, and after an incident. This all-hazards collaborative emergency planning approach identifies those threats and hazards that are most likely to impact (or ones that have historically impacted) your area. You can find more information on this emergency planning approach within the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans (School Guide) and The Role of Districts in Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans (District Guide).
In Step 2 of the planning process, described within both guides, understanding the situation by identifying all potential threats and hazards and assessing the risks and vulnerabilities posed by those threats and hazards is an effective planning strategy. If you are looking for resources to further support your planning efforts, your planning team can find resources from the REMS TA Center and our federal and national partners for using an all-hazards approach for planning for emergency incidents on our website on our topic-specific web page.
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Public Health Preparedness Strategies
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Public health involves ongoing, proactive efforts to protect and improve the health of the whole school or campus community before, during, and after an emergency. Consider participating in National Public Health Week, from April 1 to April 7. Hosted by the American Public Health Association, this stakeholder event represents an opportunity to
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Create or update a Public Health, Medical, and Mental Health Annex in your emergency operations plan (EOP). Ensure that it considers key prevention efforts such as maintaining healthy indoor air quality, providing school or campus health services (e.g., vaccination clinics), and managing the supply of personal protective equipment.
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Include representation from public health officials on your core planning team to improve preparedness for various hazards (e.g., infectious diseases) and emergency management functions (e.g., communications). Watch the REMS TA Center webinar on The Role of Public Health Officials in School Safety Efforts as Community Partners to learn more about how public health officials can contribute to your school’s emergency preparedness.
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Consider the unique contributions of school nurses on your school’s core planning team, and the insights they bring to emergency preparedness as it relates to public health. Watch the REMS TA Center webinar on Understanding the Role of School Nurses in Supporting School Safety Before, During, and After an Emergency to learn more.
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For more ways to participate in National Public Health Week, check out the American Public Health Association website for additional helpful tools and resources on a range of public health topics.
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Emergency Communications Month Trainings and Resources
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Maintaining a robust Communications and Warning/Notification Annex is key to emergency preparedness. In observation of Emergency Communications Month, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency encourages school districts, schools, and institutions of higher education to set aside time for emergency communications planning. This may include reviewing and updating your Communications and Warning/Notification Annex, one of the 10 functional annexes recommended as part of any EOP. This month, consider taking one or more of these steps to strengthen your emergency communications to:
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How Administrators Strengthen School Safety Efforts
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The ongoing support of K-12 administrators is fundamental for developing, implementing, and maintaining high-quality EOPs. This is one of the planning principles outlined by the School Guide and District Guide.
District administrators, such as superintendents, play a unique role in integrating school safety efforts across the school district and making EOP planning a district-level priority. School administrators, such as principals, can lead the whole school community in creating a culture of school safety. By demonstrating their commitment to the plan, they can strengthen support for emergency preparedness among educators, staff, students, and families.
For all these reasons, it is important for core planning teams and other members of the school community to engage administrators in the planning process. For example, planning teams can build a shared understanding around the importance of school safety and EOP development; help to define roles for school and district administrators before, during, and after emergencies; and tailor trainings for administrators so they reflect real-world events.
To learn more about developing EOPs and the role of administrators in the planning process, check out the link below.
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Resources From the Field: Check Out the REMS TA Center’s Practitioner Tool Box
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Did you know that the REMS TA Center hosts a virtual library of tools developed by school and higher ed emergency practitioners? Our Tool Box provides drills, tabletops, and other exercises; memoranda of understanding; charts; planning tips and guidelines; sample plans and policies; templates; and more directly from the field. An easy-to-use search menu allows quick access to resources on specific topics or functions.
The Tool Box only includes resources vetted by the REMS TA Center. This ensures that each resource is pertinent to the needs of schools, school districts, regional and state education agencies, institutions of higher education, and applicable community partners.
If you have a resource from your school or agency that you want to share with others, use the “Submit Your Tools” button on the Tool Box site to begin the sharing process.
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