When Disaster Strikes, Will Your School Be Prepared?

When Disaster
Strikes, Will
Your School Be
Prepared?
Sara M. Kohn
Graduate Research Assistant
Purdue University Calumet

Agenda
Planning for an Emergency/Crisis
NIMS, National Incident Management
System
Emergency Management Phases
Planning Process
Roles & Responsibilities
Training
Using your LMS
Video
Wrap-Up

About Your Speaker
Qualifications:
 MSED, Instructional Design & Technology, 2012.
 MA, Communication, 2013.
 Graduate Research Assistant, Purdue University
Calumet Office of Emergency Management.
 Graduate Assistant, Purdue University Calumet
Office of Instructional Technology.
 Purdue University Calumet Building Deputy
Training- Designer/Facilitator.
 FEMA Professional Development Series
Certified.

Emergency Management &
Technology
Benefits of using learning
management systems to provide
information to faculty & staff for
emergency preparedness.

Importance of Planning for an
Emergency or Crisis
 Emergencies of all shapes and sizes occur in
schools daily
 Emergencies, or crises, have significant impact
on students, faculty, parents, and community
 Physical
 Emotional
 Educational

 Effective planning will reduce the level of chaos
that occurs during an emergency and will enable
schools to return to normalcy quicker.

Emergency or Crisis?

A crisis is "an unstable or crucial time
or state of affairs in which a decisive
change is impending, especially one
with a distinct possibility of a highly
undesirable outcome."
An emergency is "an unforeseen
combination of circumstances or the
resulting state that calls for immediate
action."

Current Status of School
Emergency Management Plans
 Most schools and school districts have
emergency management plans; however, the
plans are not always:
 Comprehensive
 Practiced regularly
 Coordinated with the community
 Always discussed with families, staff, and
students
 Based upon sound factual data and
circumstances
 Regularly updated or used at all

Key Components of School
Emergency Management Plans
 Goal is for all school districts and schools to have emergency
management plans that:
 Address all four phases of emergency management
 Take an “all hazards” approach
 Are developed collaboratively with community partners
 Are based upon sound data and information
 Are practiced on a regular basis
 Are continually reviewed and updated
 Are living documents
 Include command structure
 Are tailored to conditions of individual schools

All-Hazards Approach

 Natural –Earthquakes, tornados, floods
 Technological –Power outages, nearby nuclear plant
 Infrastructure –Roads and bridges, utilities
 Nonstructural –Portable room
dividers, bookshelves, suspended ceilings and light fixtures
 Man-made –Hazardous materials release, terrorism
 Biological –Pandemic flu, contaminated food
 Physical well-being–broken bones on playground, suicide
 Student culture and climate–bullying, drugs, violent behavior

Incident Likelihood

Not a question of if, it is a question
of when.

NIMS
National Incident Management
System
 The National Incident Management System (NIMS) is an
emergency management doctrine used across the United
States to coordinate emergency preparedness, incident
management, and response in public and private sectors.

 NIMS is a comprehensive, national approach to incident
management created to reduce the loss of life, property, and
harm to the environment.

Four Phases of Emergency
Management:
 Mitigation
 Preventing future emergencies or minimizing
their effects
 Preparedness
 Preparing to handle an emergency
 Response
 Responding safely to an emergency
 Recovery
 Recovering from an emergency

In Advance

Form a crisis team.
This team should identify the types of crises
that may occur in the district and schools and
define what events would activate the plan.

Consider factors such as your school’s ability
to handle a situation with internal resources
and experience in responding to past events.

Step 1:

Mitigation / Prevention
Address what schools and districts
can do to reduce or eliminate risk to
life and property

Step 2:

Preparedness
Focuses on the process of planning
for the worst-case scenario

Step 3:
Response
Devoted to the steps to take during a
crisis

Step 4:

Recovery
Deals with how to restore the learning
and teaching environment after a
crisis.

Good Plans Are Never Finished!

Crisis management is a continuous
process in which all phases of the
plan are being reviewed and revised.

Plans can (and should) always be
updated based on
experience, research, and changing
vulnerabilities.

The Planning Process
 Effective crisis planning begins with leadership at the top.
Top leadership helps set the policy agenda, secures funds,
and brings the necessary people together.
 Other leadership should be identified – teachers, school
resource officer, school nurse, etc.

Good Planning Can Enhance All
School Functions
Crisis plans should address incidents
that could occur inside
School buildings
On school grounds
In the community

Open Lines of Communication

Relationships need to be built in
advance so that emergency
responders are familiar with your
school.
Cultivate a relationship with city
emergency managers, public works
officials, as well as health and mental
health professionals.

Don’t Feel You Have to Reinvent
the Wheel!
Crisis plans should be developed in
partnership with other community
groups, including law
enforcement, fire safety
officials, emergency medical
services, and health / mental health
professionals.
These groups know what to do in an
emergency and can be helpful in the
development of your plan!

Be Unique!

Tailor crisis plans to meet individual
school needs.
Create detailed response guides for
planners, a crisis-response toolbox for
administrators.

Roles & Responsibilities
A true emergency preparedness plan is a
dynamic, living document that needs to reflect
the accurate roles and responsibilities of
people within [the] organization.

An emergency plan should outline who is
responsible in a situation; it should specify
down to the details of where keys are
located, where students are assembled in any
emergency situation and most
importantly, the plan should be current.

Training
Training and practice are essential for
the successful implementation of crisis
plans.
Most students and faculty know what to
do in case of a fire because law requires
participation in fire drills. Would they
know what to do in a different crisis?
Drills allow your school to evaluate what
works and what needs to be improved.

LMS to Supplement Training

It is not suggested that schools use
this method exclusively to provide
emergency management training
Periodic training by EM specialists on
best practices and latest
developments in school safety,
security, and emergency planning
should also be made available to
district and school crisis team
members

Benefits to Using an LMS
Moodle, EdModo, MyBigCampus, etc.
FREE way to train
faculty, staff, students, and parents
Your audience can learn at their
convenience (anywhere, anytime)

What Should My Process Be?

Make your plans
Educate your audience
Exercise your plans

Where to Start?

Introduction to Incident
Command System (ICS 100) for
Schools, IS-100.SCa

http://emilms.fema.gov/IS100SCA/index.htm

Important Resources
National School Safety & Security
Services:
http://www.schoolsecurity.org/

Readiness & Emergency Management for
Schools:
http://rems.ed.gov/

FEMA – Ready KIDS:
http://www.ready.gov/kids

Select a Learning Management
System
A few of the available open-source
LMS systems:
Moodle
MyBigCampus
Sakai

Start with an outline for your
learning modules:
Safe locations
in each building

Administrative
Finding Shelter & Staff Roles

Welcome to Emergency Alert
Emergency Specific System
Preparedness
Learning
@ ABC School!
Modules
Administrative
Course Home & Staff Roles
Page
Building Evacuation
Emergency
Assembly Areas

Announcements & Time Sensitive
Information?
Unless you can guarantee that the
LMS will be updated, during each
incident, with pertinent information
regarding occurrences at your district /
school, use this is a training / content
management system.
Stakeholders may come to check your
LMS as their sole information provider

Review Emergency Plans

Make time to review your emergency
plans by taking at least five minutes at
the end of every faculty meeting to
review one component of the school’s
emergency plan and/or at least one
issue related to school safety.
Five minutes of each monthly faculty
meeting would provide roughly 50
minutes of attention to school safety
and emergency planning.

Don’t Think It Won’t Happen To Your
School!
Henryville INDIANA High School, March 5, 2012:

When Disaster Strikes, Will Your School Be Prepared?

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