About SchoolGuard

Add Readiness to the 3 Rs of your school's top learning priorities.

It is not a question of "if" there will be school emergencies; the only question is "when?" Being prepared for emergencies will save lives. Ignoring the realities may well cost the lives of school children and staff, community and family members.

The SchoolGuard project has been created to focus attention on the fact that school communities need to establish effective emergency plans. Through ongoing practice, school personnel can prepare to respond to hazardous events that may become local, regional or national disasters. Is your school as ready to respond as it needs to be? What if a major disaster where to strike today?

The SchoolGuard website is an online resource designed to help school community stakeholders actively participate in a culture of preparedness. The site includes downloadable resources such as the Model Emergency Plan template, which are both SEMS and NIMS compliant, to help schools develop a preparedness plan. A schedule of free classes and training opportunities, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, will help participants learn more about emergency preparedness. A calendar of events and planned activities is also available, as well as a list of links to related websites.

SchoolGuard Partners

The SchoolGuard project is a collaborative partnership among the following agencies and organizations serving the Region:

Mendocino County Office of Education serves as the Local Education Agency (LEA). Superintendents in Region 1 have signed a memorandum of understanding and are committed to assuring that all the schools in the Region are SEMS/NIMS compliant by June 2007. The current consortium is comprised of five counties and represented by the Office of Education in each county including:

The consortium works closely with many community organizations to help prepare school communities throughout the Region. Partnerships and collaborations include working agreements with various organizations such as the Redwood Empire Schools' Insurance Group and North Coast Schools' Insurance Group, first responders and emergency service agencies in each county, Departments of Public Health, volunteer groups, colleges and universities including Sonoma State University and Mendocino College and other interested organizations.

Our stakeholders include representatives of many civic and private organizations, including:

SchoolGuard projects have been supported by grants and in-kind funds provided by:

Together, we can be better prepared, mitigate before disasters strike, respond appropriately to events and recover once the crisis has subsided.