Safe schools require the collaboration and support of students, staff, parents, and the community. Lists 10 important steps school leaders can take. Contains a safe school quiz developed by the National School Safety Center to help gauge the situation at individual schools. (MLF)

Two bus accidents taught a school district the value of a self-developed plan of response to a school bus accident. Provides a sample school bus accident preparedness plan. (MLF)

Presents actions to protect lives and property losses in school fires based on the experiences of a professional fire restoration company.(MLF)

Summoning police officers to help investigate the report of an armed student is the prudent and safe thing for school officials to do. Police officers receive extensive training in dealing with armed subjects. School staff training should include all staff members and should provide information about where to report, how to report, and to whom.…

This issue of "Lessons Learned" addresses "Dealing with Weapons on Campus." Each year, school administrators, faculty and staff must deal with the possibility of students planning and carrying out pranks such as toilet-papering trees, egging automobiles or spray painting school property. These high jinks often occur at the end of the school year,…

Five days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, a convoy of 142 air-conditioned school buses from the 209,000-student Texas district rumbled to life. Loaded with food and bottled water, staffed by 350 school employees, and accompanied by bus-repair trucks and a phalanx of school police cars, the yellow buses traveled all night to reach the…

"Lessons Learned" is a series of publications that are a brief recounting of actual school emergencies and crises. School and student names have been changed to protect identities. Information for this publication was gathered through a series of interviews with school stakeholders involved in the actual incident. This "Lessons Learned" issue…

In the event of a natural disaster, community medical and disaster resources might not be available. It is essential that school boards make disaster preparedness a priority and then leave the actual planning to principals, teachers, and students. Outlines the basic elements of a plan and lists disaster and first-aid supplies for schools and…

Computer system hard drives will fail at some time. Stresses preparing to cope with emergencies that cannot be prevented, including making arrangements for use of an alternative computer in case of system failure. Outlines requirements for a computer environment; explains that backup is the key to disaster recovery. Describes four public domain…

This document comprises three reports to Congress on activities and programs which are administered by the Office of Education for the Assistant Secretary for Education of the U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Periodic reports are required under section 714 of the Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA) of 1972 (Title VII of Public Law…

This two-part source book offers administrators both general information for effective communications in public education and case studies describing methods used by individual Texas school districts to solve communications problems. General articles include guidelines for working with the news media, producing school newsletters, developing a…