Planning for Hurricanes and Typhoons in Your Emergency Operations Plan (EOP)
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Hurricane and typhoon season is currently underway in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, with hurricane season ending in November and typhoon season wrapping up in December. It is important for whole school and campus communities to prepare now for a potential storm and its cascading effects. Hurricanes/typhoons can cause a variety of major damages to entire communities and regions as a result of storm surges, flooding, high winds, and rip currents. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center predicts a 60 percent chance of above-normal activity in the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. Specifically, the NOAA Climate Prediction Center forecasts the likelihood of 13-20 named storms, anticipating 6-10 of them to become hurricanes, with the possibility of 3-5 evolving into major hurricanes that fall under category 3, 4, or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale shown above. Schools, school districts, and institutions of higher education (IHEs), with their community partners, can plan and prepare for hurricanes and typhoons of any category by developing a Hurricane/Typhoon Annex in their emergency operations plan (EOP) that addresses goals, objectives, and courses of action for before, during, and after a potential hurricane/typhoon.
By integrating all five National Preparedness System mission areas (prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery) into the Hurricane/Typhoon Annex and collaborating with their community partners throughout the development of the annex, education agencies can help ensure that the whole school/campus community is prepared for a potential hurricane/typhoon. Consider engaging and garnering input on plan content from local public health practitioners, mental/behavioral health practitioners, law enforcement officers, fire department personnel, emergency medical services personnel, and other community partners in the development, review, and revision of your EOP and Hurricane/Typhoon Annex. Planning teams may explore with their community partners common questions, such as
- How many days or hours in advance of a storm will your school/IHE close to help families evacuate?
- Does your school/campus serve as a shelter area? If so, who is responsible for operating and monitoring the location? Do they know where the utility shut-off valves are located
- Do you have documents showing the current location area, condition of the buildings, and the grounds?
- What is your plan to ensure displaced students and staff continue to receive essential services during an emergency, including instruction of students?
- How will donations and volunteers be managed following an emergency incident?
- What criterion will be used to determine when to reopen the school/IHE? What is your plan to coordinate and collaborate with local public health providers and public safety practitioners on the set criteria?
- How will the short-term and long-term mental/behavioral health needs of the whole school/campus community, including those with access/functional needs, be met after an event?
- What procedures and systems are in place to communicate with the whole school community, community partners, and state/regional education agencies before, during, and after an emergency?
- Have you engaged your students and parents in developing their own family plans?
For additional support on this topic, we encourage you to take advantage of the following REMS TA Center resources:
- a Lessons Learned publication for state education agencies and local education agencies;
- the SITE ASSESS mobile application, which allows site assessment teams to examine the safety, security, accessibility, and emergency preparedness of buildings and grounds for hurricanes/typhoons; and
- a Topic-Specific Resource page on natural hazards, including hurricanes/typhoons, which contains relevant resources from Federal partners.
Seeking Federal resources? Download/visit the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s guidance and fact sheet on community and residential safe rooms; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web page on preparing for a hurricane during the COVID-19 pandemic; and NOAA's National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurricane Center.
Considering the Role of Health, Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Recovery in the EOP
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Following an emergency event, schools and IHEs seek to return to “normal” operations and resume daily activities to support continuity of teaching and learning. This process is known as “recovery,” and can be immediate (hours), short-term (days to weeks), or long-term (weeks, months, or even years). Recovery includes four components:
- academic recovery is the return to classroom instruction;
- physical and structural recovery is the restoration of buildings, equipment, and supplies;
- business services recovery is the resumption of fiscal operations; and
- health, social, emotional, and behavioral recovery encompasses supporting the whole school/campus community.
A Recovery Annex details how an education agency plans to engage in collaborative efforts to support continuity of teaching and learning, as well as other key school and higher ed operations and aspects (physical/structural, business, and health, social, emotional and behavioral), before, during, and after an emergency. It is important for schools and IHEs to develop, revise, and continually enhance their Recovery Annex in coordination with community partners, including health and mental/behavioral health agencies. Health, social, emotional, and behavioral recovery is essential, as it has impacts on the whole school/campus community and may be especially important following an emergency event that causes prolonged school/IHE closures and/or that disrupts normal routines. More than half of young adults reported struggling with mental health in June of 2020, and IHEs report increased mental health needs among students. As schools and IHEs work with their community partners to maintain the Recovery Annex, the following planning considerations may be important regarding the health, social, emotional, and behavioral recovery needs of students and staff.
- Providing psychological first aid (PFA) and counseling for the school or higher ed community. As students and staff participate in summer learning programs and transition back to the classroom for fall instruction, they may require more intensive supports, including accessible supports. Schools and IHEs can collaborate with community partners to provide PFA immediately following an emergency event and in the short-term and long-term following an event.
- Helping staff and educators to build their resiliency with strategies that promote self-care. Caring for staff is critical for the well-being of the whole school/campus community, as is the prevention or reduction of compassion fatigue. Planning teams can help ensure that staff and educators have access to Employee Assistance/Wellness Programs before, during, and after an emergency.
- Supporting the whole school/campus community as students and staff may be coping with the death of a school or campus community member. Planning teams may benefit from refreshing on strategies for responding to bereavement and loss and addressing bereavement and loss in the EOP.
- Managing memorials and anniversaries and balancing those activities with the resumption of regular school programming.
- Incorporating a trauma-informed approach in the school EOP can help students and staff process their experiences and resume teaching and learning in a positive environment.
- Offering accessible supports for those with access and functional needs, including, but not limited to, individuals with disabilities; English language learners; and students and staff from religiously, racially, and ethnically diverse backgrounds. Supports may be provided in multiple languages, different settings, and synchronous and asynchronous mediums. For example, to support immediate recovery in the hours after an emergency event, planning teams may want to include personnel who can communicate in multiple languages, including sign language, to provide PFA and counseling.
Resources and Tools for K-12 EOP Revision
Emergency management planning is cyclical and continually revising the EOP is essential for building K-12 school safety. EOPs are living documents that represent the everchanging needs of the whole school community, and so they should be reviewed on at least an annual basis. Planning teams can utilize the six-step planning process in the revision process to incorporate lessons learned and new data, as well as continually enhance existing sections of the plan, such as annexes. Having a high-quality EOP that accounts for all hazards, threats, capabilities, settings and times helps enhance the preparedness capacity of the education agency, which includes preventing, mitigating, protecting, responding to, and recovering from an emergency event. Consider using EOP EVALUATE to compare your school’s existing EOP against the Federal guidance and identify areas of improvement before beginning the six-step planning process outlined below.
Step 1: Form a Collaborative Planning Team
Planning is best performed by a multi-disciplinary team and such collaborative planning teams should use a common framework and have a set meeting schedule. Ensure that your collaborative planning team has representation from various stakeholder groups in the community that may be involved before, during, or after an emergency. Use EOP ASSESS to test your knowledge and ensure that you are using the same terminology as your team members. Reestablish or adjust your team’s meeting schedule and review roles and responsibilities for new and existing members alike.
Step 2: Understand the Situation
Comprehensive emergency management planning is dependent upon a variety of data sources (e.g., historical data, ongoing assessments). Review your list of hazards and threats (both the mater list from the school district and your school’s individualized list) and conduct assessments including culture and climate assessments and site assessments to identify site-specific threats and hazards. Evaluate the level of risk and vulnerability posed by any newly identified threats and hazards and prioritize them accordingly.
Step 3: Determine Goals and Objectives
Goals are broad, generalized statements that indicate the desired outcome and objectives are specific, measurable actions for achieving the goal. Review existing goals and objectives in your EOP and develop goals and objectives for any newly identified and prioritized threats and hazards. Your team may identify some new cross-cutting functions, and so ensure that you develop goals and objectives for those functions too. Reference example goals and objectives and sample annexes to get an idea about the possible structure of goals and objectives.
Step 4: Plan Development (Identifying Courses of Action)
Courses of action are protocols and procedures that address the who, what, when, where, why, and how for accomplishing each objective. Consider this as you review, revise, and develop courses of action for threats, hazards, and functions in your EOP. For example, how will specific populations in your school or school district be affected, such as individuals with disabilities and others with access and functional needs? Download and review example courses of action and sample annexes to help your team understand what the structure and content of courses of action may include.
Step 5: Plan Preparation, Review, and Approval
The traditional format of an EOP, which is one possible format, includes three sections: the Basic Plan, functional annexes, and threat- and hazard-specific annexes. Review the format and contents of your EOP, including your Basic Plan. Use a checklist as your team reviews your plan for quality. Consider using EOP EVALUATE again to create customized reports that can inform you of which areas you should focus on during the revision of your EOP. Obtain official approval from leadership and share the plan with your community partners.
Step 6: Plan Implementation and Maintenance
Exercises help teams identify gaps, weaknesses, and strengths in the plan. Train and inform stakeholders on the plan and their roles and responsibilities in it. Exercise the EOP updates, revisions, and enhancements are informed by outcomes from training and exercises, which are a part of a program detailed in the Basic Plan. Train and inform stakeholders in your school or school district community on the plan and their responsibilities in it. Use the emergency exercises package to help practice the plan and identify its gaps, weaknesses, and strengths. Find materials for tabletop exercises, after-action reports, and other debriefing materials from your peers in the REMS TA Center Tool Box to download and customize.
Trainings to Assist With Building Your Education Agency’s Preparedness Capacity
Training is an integral part of school safety; everyone involved in the plan needs to know his or her roles and responsibilities before, during, and after an emergency. As your EOP planning team develops the training and exercise schedule, keep in mind that the REMS TA Center has a free training program, Virtual Trainings By Request (VTBRs), to assist with your emergency management planning efforts. These interactive offerings have been developed specifically for education agencies and their EOP planning teams and are available to eligible applicants free of charge.
The summer is a perfect time to engage in training efforts and brush up on safety concepts before the start of a new school year. Consider requesting multiple VTBR topics for delivery across multiple days. For example, pairing the Developing Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) K-12 101 training with the Conducting Site Assessments With SITE ASSESS training to focus on EOP enhancement and examining your school buildings and grounds. Alternatively, you may request the Behavioral Threat Assessment training that addresses the role that behavioral threat assessments play in supporting school safety and enhancing EOP development with a Resilience Strategies for Educators: Techniques for Self-Care and Peer Support training to ensure your school administration and personnel understands Psychological First Aid for Schools (PFA-S) and how to develop their self-care plan to best support their colleagues and students during the upcoming school year. To help build your capacity, consider hosting the Developing Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) K-12 101 Train-the-Trainer with your core school safety team and/or those responsible for training key personnel on Day 1 and inviting all school staff who play a role in the EOP development process to attend a train-the-educator version of the same training on Day 2. Attendees from Day 1 could then have the opportunity to play a key speaking role during Day 2 and practice delivering the training with the support of the REMS TA Center’s expert trainers. While the examples above do not include all popular training topic pairings, the graphic above provides additional VTBR combinations for consideration.
Do you have a training topic pairing in mind for your education agency or are you interested in hosting a stand-alone VTBR? It is easy to apply! Complete and submit the VTBR Host Site Application Form to info@remstacenter.org. REMS TA Center staff will confirm the receipt of your application within 1 business day.
Collaborate, Share, Inspire, and Support in Our Community of Practice
Collaboration is a critical element and principle in school safety. Multidisciplinary planning teams benefit from the expertise of both education agency personnel and community partners. Information sharing with local, regional, state, national, and even Federal agencies can also help enhance emergency management planning efforts. The REMS TA Center maintains a free Community of Practice (CoP) for schools, school districts, IHEs, and their community partners to come together virtually to collaborate, share, and learn from the experiences of others in the field across the nation. CoP members can use this password-protected space to support each other and engage with one another on developing high-quality EOPs and building school safety. Start a new topic, ask and respond to questions, and upload files directly within the portal. Find archived Web chats, resources, tools, and other information that can support EOP enhancement.
Register for a free account today to start collaborating and browsing through current public forums. Our CoP has a diverse membership, including teachers and administrators, faculty and staff, law enforcement officers, emergency medical services practitioners, community members, and parents. With the assistance of the REMS TA Center, members can also create community huddles for a smaller, more focused group of people, such as a planning team or safety leaders in a state or a region. Use these private forums to facilitate more focused discussions, share success stories and safety tips based on real-world experiences, and get inspired by viewing lessons learned.
Newly Archived Webinars in 2021
Did you miss one of our recent Webinars? You can view past Webinars on our Website:
School EOP Planning 101: Modifying and Enhancing Efforts to Practice School Emergency Operations Plans Webinar. On Thursday, January 28, 2021, the REMS TA Center hosted a Webinar to highlight strategies that K-12 education agencies can use, in collaboration with their team of multidisciplinary community partners, to modify and enhance efforts to practice school EOPs. During the Webinar, presenters shared recommendations from Federal partners specific to developing, practicing, and enhancing high-quality school EOPs through a variety of exercise types, including tabletops, virtual simulations, drills, and more. Additionally, presenters explored new considerations about modifying exercises and drills in the face of the pandemic and efforts education agencies can take to protect the whole school community. The presentation concluded with a question-and-answer session and was followed by a Twitter Chat.
School EOP Planning 101: Creating High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans That Address All Threats, Hazards, Settings, and Times. On Friday, February 26, 2021, the REMS TA Center hosted a Webinar on the topic of creating, maintaining, and continually enhancing high-quality school EOPs that apply numerous school-centered planning principles including using an all-threats, all-hazards approach and considering all settings and times. During this Webinar, presenters highlighted strategies that K-12 education agencies can use, in collaboration with their team of multidisciplinary community partners, to create high-quality school EOPs that integrate planning around all threats and hazards and all settings and times. Recommendations from Federal partners specific to creating, revising, and enhancing school EOPs using a continual process were shared. Additionally, presenters explored considerations around planning for all types of hazards and threats and with all education settings and times in mind, and provided details of the latest resources and tools available from the REMS TA Center to support schools, with their community partners, with school EOP development. The presentation concluded with a question-and-answer session and was followed by a Twitter Chat.
Share and Request Webinar Topics and Ideas
We are always seeking requests for Webinar topics and ideas to cover. Have an idea? Email info@remstacenter.org, or send a note to Project Director Janelle Hughes or Strategic Project Director Bronwyn Roberts.
Top Tweets for the Quarter
Follow our official @remstacenter Twitter page to receive news and updates on free trainings and resources for higher ed and school emergency management and preparedness. Our top tweets of the quarter include:
In addition to focusing on emergency management for hazards within school walls, it is important to account for potential community events that may impact the school community. Check out our resource on the topic: https://rems.ed.gov/docs/ERCMX_Vol3Issue6.pdf
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