Brief overview of how a Learning Management System, and the framework of the FEMA Incident Command System, can assist in creating an effective preparedness plan for schools. Kohn, S. (2012). When Disaster Strikes, Will Your School Be Ready? Presentation at the Indiana Computer Educators Conference, Indianapolis, IN, October 11, 2012.
When Disaster Strikes, Will Your School Be Prepared?
1. When Disaster
Strikes, Will
Your School Be
Prepared?
Sara M. Kohn
Graduate Research Assistant
Purdue University Calumet
2. 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
3. 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.
4. Emergency Management &
Technology
Benefits of using learning
management systems to provide
information to faculty & staff for
emergency preparedness.
5. 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.
6. 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."
7. 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
8. 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
11. 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.
12. 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
13. 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.
14. Step 1:
Mitigation / Prevention
Address what schools and districts
can do to reduce or eliminate risk to
life and property
15. Step 2:
Preparedness
Focuses on the process of planning
for the worst-case scenario
17. Step 4:
Recovery
Deals with how to restore the learning
and teaching environment after a
crisis.
18. 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.
19. 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.
20. Good Planning Can Enhance All
School Functions
Crisis plans should address incidents
that could occur inside
School buildings
On school grounds
In the community
21. 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.
22. 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!
23. Be Unique!
Tailor crisis plans to meet individual
school needs.
Create detailed response guides for
planners, a crisis-response toolbox for
administrators.
24. 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.
25. 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.
26. 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
27. 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)
28. What Should My Process Be?
Make your plans
Educate your audience
Exercise your plans
29. Where to Start?
Introduction to Incident
Command System (ICS 100) for
Schools, IS-100.SCa
http://emilms.fema.gov/IS100SCA/index.htm
30. 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
31. Select a Learning Management
System
A few of the available open-source
LMS systems:
Moodle
MyBigCampus
Sakai
32. 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
33. 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
34. 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.
35. Don’t Think It Won’t Happen To Your
School!
Henryville INDIANA High School, March 5, 2012:
The element that distinguishes the two is immediacy. An emergency is acute — the undesirable outcome is here, right now. Immediate action is required. A crisis may also call for action, but the purpose of the action is to prevent a possible outcome.
I am here today to talk to you about things I hope you never have to experience.
You are the experts on your schools capabilities with emergency management.
Includes any activities that prevent an emergency, reduce the chance of an emergency happening, or reduce the damaging effects of unavoidable emergencies. Mitigation activities take place before and after emergencies.Mitigation is the action(s) schools and districts take to eliminate or reduce the loss of life and property damage related to an event(s) that cannot be preventedPrevention is the action(s) schools and districts take to decrease the likelihood that an event or crisis will occurMitigation ExamplesBolting bookshelves to the wallFencing hazardous areasApplying Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principals to school grounds and structures Prevention ExamplesPolicies related to food preparation, mail handling, building access, etc.Assessments related to threat, physical infrastructure and culture and climateCurrent school efforts such as anti-bullying prevention programs and wellness activitiesThe Preparednessphase is designed to prepare the school community for potential emergencies by coordinating with community partners through the development of policies and protocols, incident command systems, training and exercisesObtain necessary equipment and suppliesPrepare for immediate responseCreate maps and facilities informationDevelop accountability and student release proceduresPracticeAddress liability issues
Includes plans or preparations made to save lives and to help response and rescue operations. Evacuation plans and stocking food and water are both examples of preparedness. Preparedness activities take place before an emergency occurs.
Includes actions taken to save lives and prevent further property damage in an emergency situation. Response is putting your preparedness plans into action. Seeking shelter from a tornado or turning off gas valves in an earthquake are both response activities. Response activities take place during an emergency.Response is taking action to effectively contain and resolve an emergency through the implementation of the school’s or district’s’ emergency management planExpect to be surprisedAssess the situation and choose the appropriate responseRespond within secondsNotify appropriate emergency responders and the school crisis response teamEvacuate or lock down the school as appropriateKeep supplies nearby and organized at all timesTrust leadershipCommunicate accurate and appropriate informationActivate the student release systemAllow for flexibility in implementing the emergency management planDocumentation
Includes actions taken to return to a normal or an even safer situation following an emergency. Recovery includes obtaining financial assistance to help pay for the repairs. Recovery activities take place after an emergency.The Recoveryphase is designed to assist students, staff and their families in the healing process and to restore educationaloperations in schoolsThe key components of recovery are:Physical/structuralBusiness/fiscalAcademicPsychological/emotionalPlanning for recovery involves establishing key community partnerships, developing policies, providing training and developing memorandums of understandingPlan for recovery in the preparedness phaseAssemble the crisis intervention teamReturn to the “business of learning” as quickly as possibleSchools and districts need to keep students, families, and the media informedFocus on the building, as well as people, during recoveryProvide assessment of emotional needs of staff, students, families, and respondersProvide stress management during class timeConduct daily debriefings for staff, responders, and others assisting in recoveryTake as much time as needed for recoveryRemember anniversaries of crisesEvaluate