This issue of ERCMExpress alerts readers of the All-Hazard NOAA weather radio (NWR) network upgrade. In 2004, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) collaborated to enable DHS to disseminate homeland security-related information over the NWR network. DHS's goal was to produce an…

This issue of ERCMExpress presents food safety and food defense for schools. Many schools and school districts across the country have established emergency management plans; however, these plans are often not comprehensive, practiced regularly or written in collaboration with the local community. It is recommended that schools adopt a…

It is easy for a library systems administrator to sometimes feel quite overwhelmed by the responsibilities of the job. Keeping a network running smoothly is a challenge in itself, but they must also be concerned with protecting the network from the many threats that exist. Constant vigilance is necessary to guard against electronic attacks…

This brief report, delivered after the completion of the 1st year of the United Nations (UN) Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) (2005-2014), highlights the recent developments regarding the Decade (2005). It reports on the documents prepared, the regional and national launches of the Decade held so far and presents relevant…

"Lessons Learned" is a series of publications that are a brief recounting of actual school emergencies and crises. This "Lessons Learned" issue focuses on a chemical spill that went unreported for approximately seven years, setting off a series of responses from the school district's Environmental Health and Safety Department (EHS) and the state…

This article presents the top-ten IT-related issues in terms of strategic importance to the institution, as revealed by the tenth annual EDUCAUSE Current Issues Survey. These IT-related issues include: (1) Funding IT; (2) Administrative/ERP Information Systems; (3) Security; (4) Infrastructure/Cyberinfrastructure; (5) Teaching and Learning with…

"MCPS School Safety and Security at a Glance" provides, in a single document, information about the reporting of incidents related to school safety and security, school climate, local school safety program descriptions, and serious incidents in all Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools. The information is presented for each school.…

This issue of ERCMExpress presents "The National Incident Management System" (NIMS) is the United States' uniform system for managing domestic incidents and is suitable for schools to implement in the four phases of their crisis planning: (1) prevention-mitigation; (2) preparedness; (4) recovery. The NIMS is a comprehensive approach to…

Disasters happen all the time; yet despite this, many organizations are caught unprepared or make unrealistic assumptions. These factors create environments that will fail during a disaster. Most information technology (IT) curricula do not cover disaster recovery (DR) plans and strategies in depth. The unfortunate result is that most new computer…

In this article, the author, a principal of Buckeye Valley High School, Delaware, Ohio, focuses on how to generate a building readiness plan. He suggests that school administrators should have a readily available notebook of emergency response procedures to ensure students' safety. Among other things, he recommends creation of a building…

The Emergency Response and Crisis Management (ECRM) Technical Assistance Center's newsletter "ERCMExpress" provides comprehensive information on key issues in school emergency management. Many nontraditional schools across the United States, such as storefront schools, rural schools, and alternative education facilities, face challenges…

Effective seizure management in the school setting is a critical issue for students with seizures, as well as their parents, classmates, and school personnel. The unpredictable nature of seizures and the potential outcomes of experiencing a seizure in school are sources of anxiety for students with seizures. The ability to respond appropriately to…

An inadequate or nonexistent disaster recovery plan can have dire results. Fire, power outage, and severe weather all can brin down the best of networks in an instant. This article draws on the experiences of the Charlotte County Public Schools (Port Charlotte, Florida), which were able to lessen the damage caused by Hurricane Charley when it hit…

Discusses the need for businesses to have a disaster recovery plan (DRP) to survive any type of disaster that affects an information system; for example natural disasters, inadvertent errors, or deliberate actions. A five-step guideline is suggested for developing and implementing a DRP. (Author/LRW)

This paper is basically the "story" of the Sloan Semester. It is written in a journalistic/case-study style. The Sloan Semester was a vibrant and vitally important undertaking that required the immediate attention of a group of dedicated educators. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, though its sponsorship of the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C),…