Summer Refresh: Planning for the Upcoming School Year |
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Schools and school districts often use the summer months to prepare and plan for the upcoming school year while many students are off campus for the break. This year, consider including school safety, security, emergency management, and preparedness in your school or school district’s summer plans. Use this downtime to review and refresh emergency go-kits and develop or refine your training and exercise program for facilitating emergency exercises throughout the school year.
Emergency go-kits
contain emergency supplies and help school communities prepare for a range of threats and hazards. Go-kits usually
- are portable;
- are easily accessible;
- include resources geared towards the school’s characteristics; and
- contain materials for those in specific roles or school locations, such as a classroom or nurse’s office.
During the summer, take the time to review the kits and refresh supplies for the upcoming school year. For more information, check out the
Emergency Go-Kits Fact Sheet.
Emergency exercises are another integral part of emergency operations plan (EOP) implementation for K-12 schools and institutions of higher education (IHEs). They offer opportunities to practice courses of action outlined in the EOP and examine and strengthen capacities for mitigating, protecting the whole school community from, preventing, responding to, and recovering from various hazards and threats. Use the summer to develop or refine your training and exercise program and schedule exercises throughout the school year to keep preparedness at the forefront.
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June Is Internet Safety Month
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While summer brings a welcome break for students, the season also means students may be spending more time on electronic devices and the Internet. When children are online, they can be susceptible to threats caused by malicious cyber actors, such as sextortion, ransomware attacks, commercial sexual exploitation and human trafficking, phishing attacks, malicious software or “malware,” and cyberbullying. Equipping students with Internet safety skills can help them identify potential cyber threats and prevent them from occurring and engage in safe online behavior.
June is
Internet Safety Month,
and the REMS TA Center has free resources available for the whole school community — including students, families, and school personnel — to engage in cyber preparedness. The
REMS on the Air Podcast
is a good place for the school community to learn how to build their cyber preparedness capacity.
Summer is also a suitable time for school and school district personnel to take our NEW
online course,
which will help them understand the types of evolving cyber threats they may face and how they can integrate cybersecurity into new and existing school EOPs by developing a Cyber Annex. Information Technology Specialists can provide key support to schools and school districts as they develop Cyber Annexes. Access this
Webinar,
which highlights the role of Information Technology Specialists in EOP development, including planning for cyber safety and cybersecurity.
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| Contribute to the REMS TA Center Tool Box |
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Calling all emergency preparedness practitioners! Has your education agency created tools, documents, checklists, or presentations in the 2021-2022 school year for use in emergency management planning? The REMS TA Center maintains the
REMS TA Center Tool Box,
a national virtual library of tools developed by school and higher ed emergency managers, and is seeking your contributions! If you have developed an EOP annex, a customized memorandum of understanding, or a resource pertaining to topics of accounting for all persons; community partnerships, information sharing, and collaboration; supporting students and staff with access and functional needs; continuity of operations; or rapid assessment for your education agency, please
consider sharing it with your peers
in the field. Your contributions will enrich resource sharing and support seasoned emergency managers as well as those just starting their emergency preparedness journey.
When submitting your resource(s) for consideration, please have your tool ready for upload with a brief description and proper authorization to share the information. The REMS TA Center will vet all resources through a screening process that will include consideration of the source, type, content, and structure of materials, as well as whether duplicate materials already exist in the repository. We look forward to seeing your resources and thank you for sharing your work with others in the field!
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Grants to States for School Emergency Management (GSEM) Spotlight on the Northern Mariana Islands |
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As we prepare for hurricane season, the REMS TA Center is reminded of the resilient efforts of school emergency management planning teams and the support they provide to schools with intermediate, short-term, and long-term recovery, including our partners from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Upon receipt of the GSEM grant award in October 2018, CNMI faced a devastating super typhoon that wreaked havoc on the islands of Saipan and Tinian. Super Typhoon Yutu made landfall on October 24, 2018, leaving power outages throughout the island, no running water, and damage to schools and school communities across both islands. Since then, GSEM partners from the CNMI Public School System (PSS) have taken several steps to enhance school emergency preparedness in collaboration with their partners.
In 2021, CNMI PSS created School Emergency Response Teams (SERTs) for all 20 schools and the Head Start and Early Head Start Program, which includes representation from administrators, mental health staff, counselors, and nurses, along with school office staff and maintenance staff. Over the last year, CNMI has conducted more than 20 trainings for SERT members on topics including recovery, climate assessments, site assessments, and available supports to help schools with refining EOPs using the six-step planning process outlined in the
Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans.
Looking ahead, CNMI will continue to focus their efforts to partner with other agencies and offices via a new Stakeholder Capacity Working Group, which involves various territorial government and community partners, including the islands’ Mayors Office on Tinian and Rota, the Commonwealth Health Care Corporation, the Community Guidance Center, the Gary Lee Smith Youth Suicide Prevention Program, the Karidat, the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, the CNMI Homeland Security, and the CNMI PSS Mental Health Division under Student Support Services.
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Incorporating Food Safety Into Your EOP |
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On June 7, join the REMS TA Center in taking part in
World Food Safety Day.
Recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, World Food Safety Day is a great time to learn about the health risks of contaminated food, spread the word about food safety practices, and prepare for emergencies that can threaten a school’s food supply or disrupt food service operations. One key strategy to increase a school’s, school district’s, or IHE’s preparedness capacity for food-related emergencies is to create a Food Contamination Annex. To learn more and engage with this initiative, access REMS TA Center resources and professional learning opportunities related to food safety:
You can find additional Federal guidance and resources on our Addressing Biological Hazards That May Impact Students, Staff, and Visitors Web page, under the topic Contaminated Food Outbreaks, and plan this month to enhance your EOP to account for food safety and food defense.
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