Creating a plan for crisis prevention, intervention, and postvention procedures allows schools to prepare for the traumatic consequences when a crisis inevitably occurs. The comprehensive crisis plan checklist--second edition (CCPC-2; McCleary & Aspiranti, 2020) is a 102-item tool created for evaluating individual school and district crisis…

Although schools and school districts have experience planning for biological hazards (such as contaminated food) and types of infectious diseases (seasonal flu, Staphylococcus aureus, meningitis, etc.), pandemics often present unique challenges and greatly impact efforts to ensure continuity of teaching and learning, as well as safety. The…

This document lists resources for planning teams on engaging students in prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery efforts and emergency operations plan development.

Mass shootings in schools raise important questions about how best to keep individuals safe and increase survivability in such situations. One of the most common techniques used is lockdown drills, which train individuals to build time and space between them and the threat. Despite their use in 95% of public K-12 schools nationwide, their efficacy…

School preparedness is strengthened by prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery activities (also known as the five preparedness mission areas). This fact sheet describes what prevention is, how prevention is connected to the other preparedness missions, what prevention efforts planning teams may want to consider, and how…

The overarching goal of schools is to create a safe, supportive environment where students can thrive and learn. This begins with a dedication to students' social and emotional well-being, and effective policies and programs that create a culture of trust. Such a culture provides an optimal learning environment, and is also a proactive step…

Several federal agencies jointly produced the "Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans" ("School Guide") (ED571878) in 2013. The "School Guide" recommends schools undertake emergency management planning within the context of district, local, regional, state, tribal, and federal agency…

School leaders across the United States face the challenge of creating safe and secure environments across their campuses in a way that helps promote the achievement of schools' educational objectives. To help them meet this challenge, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency asked the Homeland…

A core responsibility of the local education agencies (LEAs) that operate kindergarten-through-12th grade (K-12) schools across the United States is creating safe and secure environments that support effective teaching and learning. To help them meet this obligation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) Cybersecurity and…

This Issue Brief reviews general state practices to maintain safe schools and federal education programs that fund and shape some local school practices. Re-examining how school safety initiatives are implemented in states suggests the need for increased collaboration among states and new flexibility for states when it comes to the use of existing…

The threat of terrorism is a concern in public facilities including schools. This study focused on school districts in a southwestern state. Terrorism emergency preparedness policies are well-documented as measures to protect students and staff in school districts from terrorism threats and vulnerabilities. However, those threats and…

Implementing an effective crisis management program in a school district has associated costs. The most precious resource in a school system is time. Time is necessary for acquiring and practicing new skills, and for developing and implementing strategies to introduce and expand the change throughout a school or district. Implementing an effective…

It is of vital importance that children are educated in a safe environment. Every school needs to have a well-developed crisis management document containing plans for prevention, intervention, and postvention. We developed the Comprehensive Crisis Plan Checklist (CCPC) to serve as a valuable tool that can be used to assist practitioners with…

This article discusses how the H1N1 flu pandemic served notice to districts to get their disaster readiness strategies in order and how technology played an important part in schools effort. In late April 2010, as public fears about a mysterious new strain of flu grew, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) moved to forestall a panic. On…

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools strongly encourages schools and school districts to develop emergency management plans within the context of the four phases of emergency management: prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. In addition, schools should collaborate closely with police, fire…