For Schools

Planning Overview

It is the responsibility of the school district to plan for the safety and welfare of the students in its charge. To begin developing a model plan for your school district, start by considering the following list of suggestions.

1. Establish an Emergency Preparedness Planning Committee.
2. Develop district policies and procedures for:
   • Lines of authority in an emergency.
   • School closure following a disaster.
   • Release of students to parents or guardian
   • Public information and media coordination.
   • Nearest fire station
3. Establish district wide and individual Emergency Operations Plan (Education Code 35295, 35296, 35297).
4. Identify overlapping city/county service jurisdictions.
5. Identify emergency resources in your immediate area (e.g., medical facilities, commercial food outlets, parent volunteers).
6. Develop an emergency notification procedures telephone number chart.
7. Establish a commitment for disaster preparedness funding from your local school board.
8. Purchase and store emergency medical supplies.
9. Purchase and store emergency water.
10. Purchase and store emergency food.
11. Purchase and store light rescue equipment.
12. Establish a communications system and purchase emergency radio communication equipment.
13. Provide emergency power (generator) for the school district incident command center.
14. Establish working relations with city, county, and local Red Cross agencies.
15. Plan and practice emergency drills.

Emergency Operations Plan

An Emergency Operations Plan template is available to help schools with emergency operations planning. Click the following link to access the template. Save the EOP to your local computer and use it from there. This is a locked form intended to be filled out on your computer. This will make editing and updating your EOP easier and less time consuming.

When you click in the body of the document, it takes you to the first field in the first form. You can scroll to any place in the document. Enter your school's information and save as you would any other document.

Model Emergency Operation Plan for Schools
Model Emergency Operation Plan for County Office

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Emergency Management for School Personnel

This workbook is part of a course intended to help school planners. Click on the link to download a copy of the Emergency Management for School Personnel.

Craig Zachlod, Ed.D., CEM
School Community Emergency Manager
Mendocino County Office of Education
2240 Old River Road
Ukiah, CA 95482
Telephone: 707.467.5025
Cell: 415.265.1662
czachlod@foundationccc.org
czachlod@mcoe.us

The Emergency Response and Crisis Management Technical Assistance Center is supported by the United States Department of Education and provides a wealth of related resource links. The following websites will be valuable to you on all topics related to emergency management for schools.

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Training and Education Resources

Emergency Preparedness Workshops
Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, includes topics such as emergency preparedness in schools and CPR/AED training.

National Incident Management System

Disaster Service Worker

As a public employee, you may be called upon to assist in the event of fire, flood, earthquake, natural disaster or man-made disaster. The California Emergency Services Act declares all public employees are to serve as disaster service workers in the event of an emergency. To find out more about you role as a "DSW", visit the Contra Costa County Public Health site. To order a 12 minute VHS or CD presentation entitled: Your Role as a Disaster Service Worker; Public Employees Roll Up Their Sleeves, click on the following link, Disaster Service Worker video project.

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Quick Reference Guide

The SchoolGuard Quick Reference Guide (QRG) has been developed to help you find critical response information in the event of a school emergency.  The information works in conjunction with the Model Emergency Operations Plan that has been provided to the schools and districts in your County.  In addition to customizing this Quick Reference Guide with specific information about your school, you should also become familiar with the overall Emergency Operations Plan that contains much more detailed information.

If you'd like to download and reproduce additional copies of the QRG, please click on the following links to access the digital version of the page inserts.

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School Crisis Response and Recovery Manual

This manual has been designed to assist schools in responding to the psychological impact of school crises. The School Crisis Response and Recovery Manual is a component of the Model Emergency Operations Plan. In the case of a large-scale disaster, schools will manage a crisis following the Model Emergency Operations Plan management guidelines. The crisis intervention team would be one of the many teams carrying out the roles and responsibilities described in the Model Emergency Operations Plan. Click on the link to download a copy of the School Crisis Response and Recovery Manual.

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