When disaster strikes, you need to act quickly. Developing an emergency preparedness plan before an event occurs will help you protect the people in your community and minimize the impact of the crisis. Preparedness plans outline how the school will respond to different crises and what is expected of key staff members. Below are a number of resources that will help you create or update your school’s crisis preparedness plan.
- The U.S. Department of Education has developed “Practical Information on Crisis Planning,” a resource to provide schools and communities with basic guidelines and useful ideas on how to develop emergency response and crisis management plans.
- The U.S. Department of Education administers the Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Technical Assistance Center, which offers many resources for school emergency planning.
- The resources include a “Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans,” which describes the principles of school emergency management, the process for developing a plan, and a discussion of the key components of a school emergency operation plan.