Recovery Emergency Management for Schools training February 23

Recovery Emergency Management for Schools training February 23, 2007, Philadelphia, PA Alex James Director, Office of School Facilities South Carolina Department of Education Marleen Wong Director, Crisis Counseling and Intervention Services Los Angeles Unified School District, CA U. S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools 400 Maryland Avenue, SW / Washington, DC 20202

Overview of Session • Identify key messages • Define the Recovery phase • Identify key components of Recovery: • • Physical aspects Business/fiscal elements Academic structure Emotional/mental health Discuss how to prepare for Recovery in advance Review key "Issues/Debates" in Recovery Discuss Recovery scenario Questions? 2

Key Messages • The Recovery Phase is designed to assist students, staff, and their families in the healing process and to restore educational operations in schools • The Recovery Phase is planning for common events; planning for uncommon events • The Recovery Phase is an ongoing process that is directly linked to the other three phases of crisis planning • Strong community partnerships are key to supporting Recovery efforts for schools 3

Phases of Emergency Management Prevention-Mitigation Recove ry 4 Preparedness Response

What is the Recovery Phase? • The Recovery phase is designed to assist students and staff in the healing process and to restore educational operations in schools • Recovery can be a long-term process • Planning for Recovery begins in the Prevention-Mitigation phase • Providing for Recovery efforts requires leadership and buy-in from the top • There is a direct link between emotional stress and academic achievement GOAL: Restore a safe and healthy learning environment 5

Probability of Event Types of School/District Events 6 • Student deaths • Staff deaths • Accidents (students hit by cars, bus accidents, car accidents, swimming, etc. ) • Violence in schools or community (assaults, murders, drive-by shooting in community, etc. ) • Suicides • Natural disasters (tornado, earthquake, wildfire, hurricane, etc. ) • School shootings

Preparing in Advance for Recovery: Introduction • Planning and policies • Partners and resources • Training 7

Preparing in Advance for Recovery: Policies and Planning • Planning in advance of an event: • Outline service delivery systems • Develop template letters for emergencies • Pre-determine strategies for accepting contributions/donations following a death/incident • Outline strategies for dealing with "empty chairs" • Determine a policy for memorials (be consistent across events) • Ensure a process is in place for parental consent • Compile resource kits 8

Preparing in Advance for Recovery: Policies and Planning • Consider the structures and departments • Coordinate with district departments • Safety and security, facility management, risk management, budget office, transportation, food services, technology services, etc. • Develop and practice a continuity of operations plan (COOP) at district and school levels • Create Damage Assessment Response Teams (DART) • Assemble Crisis Response Teams: • District teams • School-based teams • Define procedures for crisis recovery • Coordinate with outside community partners and agencies 9

Preparing in Advance for Recovery: Partners and Resources • Before an event occurs, schools should: • Consider expertise available for mental health service provision at the: § School level § District level § Community level • Outline partnership agreements with relevant local partners detailing support available • Identify a school/district employee to coordinate partnerships with the community - a liaison officer • Identify and train crisis response team members • Develop a process for screening and registering volunteers • Develop a process for inventorying and distributing district and donated supplies 10

Preparing in Advance for Recovery: Training • To ensure that appropriate training is conducted for Recovery, schools should proactively: • Identify and train appropriate staff to provide developmentally and culturally appropriate services § Train mental health staff on specific interventions § Provide basic training on available resources and common reactions to trauma for all staff (including administrators) § Provide specific information to all staff regarding the school's referral system (e. g. , inform teachers about who students can go to for support, and the referral systems available) § Train teachers/staff on early warning signs § Train teachers/staff on how to work with parents/guardians 11

Recovery: Key Components • • 12 Physical/Structural Recovery Business/Fiscal Recovery Academic Recovery Psychological/Emotional Recovery

Physical/Structural Recovery Purpose: To restore facilities necessary to enable educational operations Key components: • Assess physical/structural component • (e. g. , damage assessment response team) • Ensure human safety at educational sites and staff availability to teach • Resume transportation and food services • Determine availability of equipment and supplies (books) • Debrief and incorporate lessons learned into emergency management planning 13

Business/Fiscal Recovery Purpose: To restore critical business functions within the school/district as soon as possible Key Components: • Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and/or Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP): • Restore district administrative functions • Ensure staff are supported • Set-up payroll system • Institute a system for registering out of district students, and for registering students into other schools 14

Business/Fiscal Recovery Key Components, continued: • Identify, in advance, who has responsibility for closing schools, or sending students/staff to alternate locations • Identify who is responsible for restoring which business functions for schools/districts • Identify succession plans • Ensure systems are in place for rapid contract execution in the event of an emergency 15

Academic Recovery Purpose: To facilitate students' return to learning; restore structure and routine Key Components: • Short-term considerations • Quick decision making regarding school/academic routines • Brief administrators and staff • Communicate with parents/guardians on events and the plan • Academic success and Recovery are linked 16

Academic Recovery Key Components, continued: • In general, maintaining the school routine is helpful • Can the school remain open? • Can the school routine be maintained? Modified? • Are academic materials needed? • Traumatized students may: • Engage in uncharacteristically aggressive behavior • Have difficulty concentrating and learning 17

Academic Recovery • Youth exposed to violence and trauma have been shown to have: • Lower grade point averages (Hurt et al. , 2001) • Decreased reading ability (Delaney-Black et al. , 2003)* • More negative remarks in their cumulative records • More reported absences from school (Hurt et al. , 2001) • Increased expulsions and suspensions (LAUSD survey) • Decreased rates of high school graduation (Grogger, 1997) 18 *Source: Delaney-Black, V. , Covington, C. , Ondersma, S. J. , Nordstrom-Klee, B. , Templin, T. , Ager, J. , Janisse, J. , & Sokol, R. J. (2002). Violence exposure, trauma, and IQ and/or reading deficits among urban children. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 156 (3), 280 -285.

Psychological/Emotional Recovery Purpose: To promote coping and resiliency for students, staff, and their families following an emergency or crisis Key components: • Available and acceptable services in the district • Internal and external resources • Short-term considerations • Overview of mental health interventions • Psychoeducation • Psychological first aid • Intervention strategies & models • Long-term considerations 19

Psychological/Emotional Recovery: Available and Acceptable Services • Support from leadership is critical: • All planning involves the school Principal or their designee • Some schools may be hesitant to bring in "outside" mental health support - think this through in advance • Long-term services need support from the school board • Familiarity with funding sources after disasters 20

Psychological/Emotional Recovery: Internal and External Resources • Consider local mental health resources • Develop a structure for support • "Outside" vs. "Inside" help COMMUNITY Public Health Local Government Mental Health School District Public Safety Law Enforcement Emergency Management 21

Psychological/Emotional Recovery: Short-Term • Identify circles of impact and provide triage • Triage is the process of identifying the immediate needs of students and staff, and ensuring referral to appropriate services • Provide psychoeducation for families, students, and staff • Consider psychological first aid • Consider utilization of services for staff through district Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) • Leverage union resources available for teacher support • Be aware of impacts of possible trauma history 22

Psychological/Emotional Recovery: Short-Term • Traumatic stress is an acute distress response that is experienced after exposure to a catastrophic event • Traumatic stress occurs because the event poses a serious threat to: • The individual's life or physical integrity • The life of a family member or close friend • One's surrounding environment • Individuals who have witnessed injury or death are also at risk to develop a trauma stress response 23

Psychological/Emotional Recovery: Mental Health Interventions • Promote coping and resiliency for students and staff and to assist with the healing process • Increase students' (ability to stay in school) academic performance • Provide a range of immediate and long-term interventions • Triage and assess immediate recovery needs of students and staff • Make individual and group crisis counseling available during the first week after a crisis event • Be aware of secondary adversities and make services available as needed 24

Psychological/Emotional Recovery: Mental Health Interventions • Intervention strategies and models: • Trauma and grief focused school-based mental health programs § Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) • Short-term individual, group, and family interventions • Depression and suicide prevention 25

Psychological/Emotional Recovery: Psychoeducation • Provide for everyone in the school community • Ensure that materials are developmentally and culturally sensitive • Identify pathways for disseminating information to students, staff, and parents • Create and support a coping environment for students and staff 26

Psychological/Emotional Recovery: Psychological First Aid • Psychological First Aid (PFA) is an evidenceinformed modular approach for assisting children, adolescents, adults, and families in the immediate aftermath of disaster and terrorism • PFA is designed to: § Reduce the initial distress § Foster short- and long-term adaptive functioning • PFA meets four basic standards: § Is consistent with research evidence on risk and resilience following trauma § Is applicable and practical in field/school settings § Is developmentally appropriate across the lifespan § Is culturally informed and adaptable 27 Source: National Child Traumatic Stress Network and National Center for PTSD, Psychological First Aid: Field Operations Guide, September, 2005

Psychological/Emotional Recovery: Psychological First Aid • PFA core actions • Initiate contact and engagement • Ensure safety and comfort • Stabilize emotions • Gather information on current needs and concerns • Provide practical assistance • Connect with social supports • Provide information on coping • Link with collaborative services 28 Source: National Child Traumatic Stress Network and National Center for PTSD, Psychological First Aid: Field Operations Guide, September, 2005

Psychological/Emotional Recovery: Long-Term • Conduct ongoing assessment/monitoring of mental health of students and staff • Monitor attendance, grades, and counselor's visits • Provide care for caregivers (compassion fatigue) • Incorporate lessons learned from each event into future planning efforts • Remember to reinforce ongoing prevention programs • Be aware of 'key dates, ' such as trials, anniversaries, and holidays 29

Key Issues for the Recovery Phase Issue #1: Opening or closing schools after an event occurs • Policy should be determined in advance • Considerations: • How long should the school be closed? • How can parents/guardians weigh in on decisions about school closures? • Who has the ultimate decision-making power regarding school closure? • How will the community be notified? • Ultimate question - Will the children be better off in school, or out of school? 30

Key Issues for the Recovery Phase Issue #2: Memorials after a student or staff death • Policy should be determined in advance • Considerations: • Memorials can be controversial • Questions may arise about how/if policies § should vary depending on the type of death • Memorials in schools can be considered a • suicide contagion • A date for removing memorial items • How memorials might reinforce ongoing prevention programming (i. e. , scholarship funds, etc. ) 31

Key Issues for the Recovery Phase Issue #3: How to handle key dates • Policy should be determined in advance • Considerations: • • 32 Be cognizant of anniversary dates but do not dramatize them Watch for reactions around holidays and/or anniversaries Prepare a constructive message for anniversaries Make sure educators watch for risk behaviors

Interactive Scenario 33

Scenario • You're a member of the crisis response team at YOUR school. • It's early morning. • School has just begun for the day. • One school bus is late arriving due to ice on the roads. 34

Details of the Incident • The bus has 26 students from the middle and high schools on board (ages 10 - 17). • As the bus arrives, the driver is unable to stop the bus. The bus skids and then crashes through the wall of the music room. There are 25 students in the music room. • Two students are killed and 19 students are injured - four of them severely. • The bus driver was found to be intoxicated. 35

What are the first five steps you would take to activate your plan? 36

Which students and staff are most at risk? 37

What types of services would facilitate the recovery process? How would they be unfolded? 38

Summary • Recovery planning is a continual process. • Schools need to plan for the emotional/mental health needs of students and staff, as well as for the physical, business, and academic Recovery of their campuses following an emergency or crisis event. • Planning for Recovery involves establishing key community partnerships, developing policies, providing training, and developing memoranda of understanding (MOU). 39

THANK YOU For More Information Contact: Alex James: ajames@ed. sc. gov Marleen Wong: marleen. wong@lausd. net ERCM TA Center: 888 -991 -3726 or info@ercm. org 40