Emergency Preparedness in Early Childhood Education

1. Emergency Preparedness in Early Childhood Education • Opening Minds Conference 2013

2. Agenda 2 • School emergency response planning • Emergency management overview • The planning process • Legal and administrative requirements • Overview of emergency response plan • Training and exercise • Resources • Questions and Answers

3. School Emergency Response Planning 3

4. Importance of Planning 4 • Safety above all • Emergencies of all shapes and sizes occur in schools every day • Significant impact on students, faculty, staff, parents, and the community • Physical • Emotional • Legal and ethical responsibilities to the students, staff, faculty, and parents

5. St. Barnabas UMC Tornado • Prior to event, had an emergency response plan that included tornado drills • 82 students at school when tornado occurred • Roof lifted up, sprinkler system breaks, tree is uprooted and punctures wall in education wing

6. St. Barnabas UMC Tornado • Teachers direct students to interior portions of education wing in darkness through flooded hallways • No injuries reported except for one 5 year old complaining of head pain following her braids being pulled on by the boy that liked her • Instituted reunification plan to connect parents with students

7. St. Barnabas UMC Tornado • Facility badly damaged; $3.6 million in repairs • Students finished year at neighboring early childhood education program • School and church re-opened in September

8. Impact of Newtown: Preparation • Advanced security system in place • Conducted emergency drill in September • All exterior doors locked at 9:30 am • Visitors required to report to main office and present i.d. • Students arriving after 9:30 must be walked into the building

9. Impact of Newtown: Response

10. Impact of Newtown: Response • Parents hear of event and start arriving at Sandy Hook, complicating response efforts • Sandy Hook Fire Stations becomes gathering place for families of victims • Nationwide media interviews survivors, townspeople • New York City provides portable morgue; bodies not removed until night after shooting

11. Impact of Newtown: Recovery • Sandy Hook classes not in session for two weeks; transferred students to new school • Nationwide conversation on gun control • $8.5 million in monetary donations, warehouse of toys, stuffed animals, books, school supplies • $100 million lawsuit filed against State of Connecticut

12. Lack of Planning 12 • There is a lack of planning done in school systems in the United States • Many school systems on the K-12 level have plans but they are not comprehensive • Many early childhood education institutions have no plan at all

13. Why the lack of planning? 13 • Accountability • No system set up to monitor planning efforts amongst early childhood education providers • Funding • Budgets are stretched to capacity • Lack of grants for ECE • Time • Lack of staff time to dedicate to research and writing • Focus on educational benchmarks • Knowledge • Expertise is in educational administration, not emergency planning

14. Questions? 14

15. The Emergency Management Overview 15

16. Four Phase Cycle 16

17. Mitigation and Prevention 17 • All actions taken before a disaster to reduce it’s impacts • Structural mitigation • Projects that reduce economic and social impacts • Non-structural activities • Procedures and practices that raise awareness of hazards

18. Preparedness 18 • Governments, organizations, and individuals develop plans to save lives, minimize disaster damage, and enhance disaster response operations • Preparedness plans • Emergency exercises and training • Communications • Resources inventory • Public information

19. Response 19 • Phase where action is taken to resolve an emergency • Emergency management plans are operationalized • Activate the plan • Deploy resources • Activate communications plan • Work with first responders • Accounting for staff and students • Preparing for recovery phase

20. Recovery 20 • Actions that return staff and students to day-to-day operations • May overlap with response or continue on for months or years • Restore utilities, clear pathways, repair damaged facilities, provide emotional support services, etc.

21. All-Hazards Approach 21 • Develop protocols to prepare for all hazards • Incorporate community partners into planning process • Increases ability to respond to disaster or emergency • Standardizes certain processes • Operational concept • Command structure • Communications

22. Incident Command System (ICS) 22 • Standardized management structure • Pre-determined group of individuals charged with roles and responsibilities with Plan, regardless of emergency type • Necessary in order to implement All-Hazards Approach

23. ICS Roles 23 • Incident Commander • Overall direction and control over on-scene response until relieved by first response or response ends • Assess situation and orders specific actions • Command Staff • Safety Officer: Identify, assess, and prevent safety threats • Liaison: Point of contact for external parties and organizations • Public Information: Point of contact for public and media • Action Team • Operations: Perform tactical tasks • Planning: Compile and assess incident status information • Logistics: Provide resources and support for all functions • Finance/Administrative: Manage expenditure and insurance

24. Questions? 24

25. The Planning Process 25

26. Six Steps • Form the collaborative planning team. • Understand the situation. • Determine goals and objectives. • Develop the plan. • Prepare, review, and approve the plan. • Implement and maintain the plan.

27. 1. The Team FEMA Questions for Identifying Stakeholders • Who might be responsible for what is intended? • Who can make the planning process more effective through their participation or less effective by their non-participation or outright opposition? • Who are the “voiceless”’ for whom special efforts have been made (e.g., the disability community)? • Who can contribute financial or technical resources? • Possible Planning Team Members • Local law enforcement • Fire Department • Emergency medical services • Public health • Community mental health • Local emergency management • Child protective services • Social services • Teachers • Board members • Building representatives

28. 2. Situation Overview Information to Include • Major geographic points • Typical weather patterns • Hazard Analysis • Building Infrastructure • Number of staff • Number of students • Persons with special needs • or considerations • Analyzing the Hazard • Severity of impact • Catastrophic, Severe, Moderate, Minor • Warning Time • None, 6-12 hours, 12-24 hours • Probability of Occurrence • High, Medium, Low

29. Community Hazards Natural Hazards Technological Hazards 29 • Severe Thunderstorm • Tornado • Hail • Flooding • Severe Winter Storm • Infectious Disease Outbreak • Earthquake • Terrorism • Hazardous Materials Release • Bomb Threat • Active Shooter • Intruder • Transportation Accident • Medical Emergency • Child Abduction • Structural Fire

30. Special Considerations 30 • Vulnerable population • Age range 2-6 years old • Differing cognitive levels • Multiple stakeholders • Parents • First Responders • Teachers • Administration • School schedule • Entry and Exit

31. Planning for Children with Special Needs • Consideration of those with special needs should be done at every step of planning process • Working with parents to understand how their child reacts under duress • Working with first responders to ensure knowledge of children with special needs at the school • Train staff on procedures involving children with special needs • Incorporate special needs issues into exercise objectives and goals

32. 3. Goals and Objectives • Determine overall goals and objectives for plan; what do you want out of an incident response? • Determine overall goals and objectives for individual hazards using hazard analysis.

33. 4. Developing the Plan • Will review the basic concepts of an emergency operations plan in next section

34. 5. Prepare, Review, Approve • Who will author the plan? The courses of action for each hazard? • Team reviews drafts of plan to ensure consistency with goals and objectives. • Approval is dependent on organization.

35. 6. Implement and Maintain • Responsibilities for distribution and implementation of the plan should be incorporated into development of the plan. • Includes how teachers, staff, parents, and students will be trained on the contents of the plan. • Timeline for exercising the plan

36. Legal and Administrative Requirements 36

37. Minimum Components of Plans 37 • Concept of Operations • Description of school’s overall approach to emergency response • Statement about how and when emergency plan will be implemented • Description of how Incident Command System (ICS) will be implemented • Direction and Control • Definition and Assignment of Roles/Responsibilities in Chain of Command • All members of Emergency Teams • Designated Backups for each Role and Responsibility • Description of Planned Response • What should happen? When? At whose direction? • Specific planning for specific hazards • i.e. Severe weather, fire, bomb threats, structural failures, bus accidents, failure of utilities or loss of service, release of hazardous materials (indoors or outdoors), presence of an intruder, use of weapon, or taking of hostage, public health or medical emergencies, earthquake, nuclear power plan accident (if within 25 miles)

38. Minimum Components of Plans (cont.) 38 • Resource Inventory and Accounting • Supply and equipment caches • i.e. first aid kits, food/water, emergency lighting, walkie-talkies, battery-operated radios, etc. • Method for accounting for whereabouts of students and staff • Emergency contact lists • Process for releasing students into care of parents or legal guardians • Training and Preparedness • Description of training and materials used to ensure all students and staff understand warning signals and know what to do • Information about the school • i.e. Hazard analyses, area maps, building layout, etc. • Records of results from Emergency Drills

39. Emergency Drills 39 • Minimum Drills Required each school year • 3 School Evacuation Drills • At least 1 of 3 must include participation of local Fire Department • 1 Bus Evacuation Drill • 1 Severe Weather or Shelter-in-Place Drill • Recommended each school year • Law Enforcement Drill • Include participation of local Law Enforcement • May involve reverse-evacuation or lock-downs

40. Annual Review and Reporting 40 • Annual Review Meeting • Review and update Plan and discuss results from Drills • Diverse Participating Parties • i.e. School Board, principals, first response organizations, education-related organizations, etc. • Annual Review Report • Summarize recommended changes • State which changes will be implemented • Send copy of Report to each Participating Party and to the Regional Superintendent

41. Common Requirements for Planning 41 • Developed with aid of community Public Safety agencies • Based on a hazard analysis addressing multiple hazards • Include Incident Command System and assigned responsibilities, including designated backups • Gather essential supplies and assemble kits to support response action • Include a system of accountability for all students and adults in the building • Include a reunification system for releasing students to legal parents or guardians • Include a system for regular review and updating of plans

42. Common Requirements for Drills 42 • Implement notifications that alert all students and staff in and around the building of emergency • Ensure movement to safe areas in a reasonable amount of time • Include primary & secondary evacuation routes and safe areas • Account for students with special needs during an emergency • Ensure communication with first responders during response • Taught and tested through regularly scheduled drills and exercises involving Public Safety agencies

43. Liability 43 • “Almost anyone can be sued, for nearly anything, at almost any time” • Qualified Immunity • Applies to public schools (local unit of government) • Actions taken in the course of official action, including emergency management • NOT actions outside of official action • NOT for reckless or willful misconduct • Negligence • Duty Breach Causation Injury • In loco parentis: schools take on some of the duties of a parent • Where legal and administrative requirements exist, planning and response is within the scope of employment

44. Questions? 44

45. Overview of emergency response plan 45

46. The Basic Plan (CPG 101) 46 • Introductory Material • Introduction to Plan • Concept of Operations • Direction, Control, and Coordination • Information Collection, Analysis, and Dissemination • Communications • Administration, Finance, and Logistics • Plan Development and Maintenance • Authorities and References

47. Introductory Material 47 • Cover Page • Approval and Implementation Page • Gives approval to plan via delegating authority • Record of Changes • To track any updates or changes to plan • Table of Contents

48. Introduction to Plan 48 • Purpose • General statement of what the plan is meant to do • Scope • States the scope of emergency and disaster response and entities and geographic areas to which the plan applies • Situation Overview* • Relative probability and impact of hazards • Geographic areas likely to be affected by hazards • Vulnerable facilities • Population distribution and locations • individuals with disabilities, or functional needs • Location of resources in school (first-aid kits, fire extinguisher) • Planning Assumptions • What you assume to be true

49. Concept of Operations 49 • School’s approach to emergency response* • National Incident Management System • National set of principles that ensure all involved in response/recovery understand their roles and have the tools needed to be effective • Implementation of Incident Command System* • Nationally recognized system for direction and control • Initial Response • How are first responders notified • Who is responsible until first responders arrive, who coordinates with first responders*

50. Organization and Assignment of Responsibilities 50 • Lists the tasks to be performed by position and organization* • Possible roles • Director/Principle/Building Administrator • Incident Commander • Teachers/Teacher Aide’s • Administrative Staff • Students • Parents • Board of Directors