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Recovery Information about Recovery Training, Exercises, and Drills Information about Training, Exercises, and Drills

Prepare for emergencies and know how to respond and recover.

Emergency planning is a key component of school safety that can include large-scale actions or everyday activities to build a safe school environment. These efforts can stop an emergency event from happening or reduce the impact of an incident that does occur. Emergency planning can also help schools identify and address gaps in procedures and empower school staff and local first responders to understand and manage their responsibilities.

A key component of emergency planning is creating a comprehensive school emergency operations plan (EOP), a document that describe the actions students, teachers, and school staff should take before, during, and after emergency events. Developing an EOP should be a collaborative process that includes a diverse planning team comprised of a range of school personnel as well as local and community partners. Schools should plan to review, evaluate, and update their EOP on a regular basis.

Conducting training, exercises, and developmentally appropriate drills can also support school emergency preparedness. These activities can help inform all members of the school community of their roles before, during, and after an emergency, as well as provide opportunities to practice courses of action outlined in the EOP and examine and strengthen preparedness capabilities. Exercises and drills should be tailored to account for the specific features and characteristics of the school community, including students’ developmental levels and physical abilities, and balanced with issues related to school culture and climate.

Schools and districts can plan for how they will recover from incidents before they occur, which can make the recovery process faster and more effective. As part of this, school emergency management teams should have an overall strategy and plan to support the academic, physical, emotional, and fiscal recovery of the school community following an emergency.

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All Emergency Planning Resources

Access additional resources below to learn more about K-12 emergency planning and related best practices. Use the filters to sort resources based on subtopic and/or preparedness action.

New
Video
School Climate
Accessible Public Schools

Department of Justice, 2024

This video describes accessibility features that should be considered to ensure that public schools are accessible to students with disabilities as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.  The video describes key accessibility features needed by students with disabilities to get to school, participate in classes and get around school buildings and facilities, use playground equipment, and participate in other school activities.

New
Fact Sheet
Emergency Planning
National Center for School Safety Product Highlights

Department of Justice

These one-pagers outline key trainings and resources from the National Center for School Safety. Each document provides quick insights, useful resources, and discussion prompts to support implementation in the school community.

New
Tool
Targeted Violence
Mass Attacks Defense Toolkit

Third Party, 2022

This online toolkit provides strategies and guidance on deterring, mitigating, and responding to mass attacks. It is designed to help reduce the likelihood of mass shootings and other public attacks, and reduce the casualties of completed attacks.

 
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