Prevention/Mitigation
- Schools should conduct
an assessment to identify all potential hazards that they
could face, including both natural events and man-made events.
- The assessment should
include a review of fights, crimes, and other disciplinary
events that have occurred on or around school property. This
will help ensure that resources are properly deployed to areas
of the school where they are most needed.
- School officials should
take steps to reduce the likelihood that people or property
will be harmed when disaster strikes. For example, if a school
is located in a flood zone, officials can ensure that valuable
material is kept from low-lying areas.
- School administrators
should consider the location of special student or staff populations,
such as those who have disabilities, to ensure that they are
not situated near potentially dangerous or inaccessible areas
of the school building.
- Safety planning efforts
should involve the school custodian or maintenance director.
Typically this person has the "full run" of the
building and can provide valuable insight into changes that
could be made to the school's physical structure to make it
safer.
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Preparedness
- Local emergency management,
law enforcement, health, and mental health personnel should
be involved in developing crisis protocols. Written agreements
should be drafted, such as memoranda of understanding, that
clearly delineate the roles of both emergency responders and
school officials during a crisis.
- Parents should be made
aware of the crisis plans at their child's school. In a crisis,
their knowledge of the crisis plan can help reduce confusion,
panic, and perhaps serious injury.
- Schools need to work
closely with health providers and volunteer organizations
to develop lists of their available resources before a disaster
strikes. Knowledge of available human resources and stocks
of equipment can save precious time during an emergency.
- Frequent drills, using
as many alternate evacuation routes as possible, should be
conducted to reduce the possibility that students and staff
become unnecessary victims in a crisis, and to ensure that
responses by public safety officials are well thought out
and appropriate. Frequent drills help ensure that staff and
students know what their responsibilities are during a crisis.
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