Creating Emergency Operations Plans that Address All Hazards and Threats
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School and higher ed emergency operations plans (EOPs) provide a roadmap to help education agencies and their community partners prevent, prepare for, mitigate the effects of, respond to, and recover from a variety of emergencies. Before developing a roadmap, it is important to “understand the situation” in the locality. Where are the vulnerable areas? What roadblocks may be experienced along the way? Is there a plan to respond to multiple threats and hazards?
The U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Office of Safe and Supportive Schools and its REMS TA Center recommend that schools, school districts, institutions of higher education, and their community partners follow Step 2: Understand the Situation in the six-step planning process for high-quality EOP development to determine their risk and vulnerability for various types of hazards and threats, including the following:
The REMS TA Center offers a sample risk assessment matrix that education agencies, and their community partners, can use to prioritize threats and hazards. Education agencies may develop individual annexes to support the creation of goals, objectives, and courses of action to respond to incidences of school violence, or they may create an annex specifically focused on winter precipitation. As we approach a new calendar year and set new paths for the future, now is the perfect time to assess which threat- and hazard-specific annexes may require attention in your school or higher ed EOP.
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Mitigating the Risk of School Violence
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The Report on Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2020, released by ED’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in July 2021, shows that “several crime and safety issues have become less prevalent at school” over the past 10 years, while “some other crime and safety issues remained unchanged or became more prevalent over time.” Specifically, data from the NCES report show that “students ages 12–18 experienced more nonfatal criminal victimization at school than away from school, although victimization (both at school and away from school) has decreased over time.” Schools need to be prepared for adversarial and human-caused threats, including school violence, which they can develop through their Threat- and Hazard-Specific Annexes.
School violence may encompass several types of adversarial and human-caused threats: active shooters, criminal threats or actions, bomb threats, and violent extremism. Educational agencies, however, can take steps to mitigate school violence and increase school safety. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently released a public awareness bulletin, Mitigating the Threat of School Violence, which shares risk factors, indicators, and additional resources for educators, administrators, and school staff. Prevention is key. Schools should be prepared to manage the potential increase in violent behaviors, as well as to attend to the social and emotional needs of students. It is important now more than ever to ensure students and staff feel physically and emotionally safe in their school environment. Also, it is crucial for schools and education agencies to reflect upon lessons learned to avoid retraumatizing students and staff when recovering from an emergency.
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Preparing for Winter-Related Emergencies
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Winter can bring natural hazards that you should be aware of in your state and locality. Extreme cold, severe wind, snowstorms, and freezing rain can cause hypothermia and power outages, disrupt emergency and medical services, and damage buildings and grounds. K-12 and higher education agencies can develop EOPs with their community partners to prepare for these emergencies.
Does your EOP have a Winter Precipitation Annex or Extreme Temperatures Annex? Find resources to help you plan for winter emergencies on the REMS TA Center Website.
Our Topic-Specific Resources Web page on Natural Hazards, including winter precipitation and extreme temperatures, contains
resources from the REMS TA Center, U.S. Department of Education, and Federal agency partners for
school districts, schools, institutions of higher education, community partners, and parents.
Examples include a National Weather Service (NWS) guide,
the NWS StormReady® Program, and a
NWS Winter Safety Web page with infographics and information for before, during, and after a winter storm.
The REMS TA Center Tool Box contains winter storm resources from state partners, including a
tabletop exercise from the Washington School Safety Center and a
case study from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, California Department of Education, CalRecycle, and Sacramento County Office of Education.
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Supporting Students and Staff Who Are Grieving
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As we celebrate the holidays this year, let us remember that this season can be both joyful and challenging, especially for those who have been impacted by emergencies and lost loved ones. Grief can sometimes lead to feelings of uncertainty and fear. As a school community, it is important to ensure the social and emotional wellbeing; healing; and health, social, emotional, and behavioral recovery of students and staff before, during, and after any emergency event. Schools can address and integrate this work into their EOP.
Visit the REMS TA Center Website for resources that encourage school staff and safety teams to better understand grief and trauma and highlight the benefits of including plans for responding to bereavement and loss in a school EOP. Below are three training opportunities to learn how you can help students and staff cope with grief in all settings and during all times.
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As 2021 winds down, the REMS TA Center thanks our partners, including our 89 new followers, for
the engagement throughout the year. Join us down memory lane as we reflect upon our
favorite tweets of the year, month by month. Screenshots of our top tweet for each month are
below and offer a glimpse of a REMS TA Center resource, news item from a
Federal agency partner, or a virtual event for the field.
#REMSChatWithanExpert was our newest endeavor on Twitter and
can be seen twice in our collation of tweets of the year.
Thank you to our experts and followers who participated
in our Twitter chats. We look forward to more events and engagement next year!
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