One activity that districts has found useful is debriefing. For example, some districts have convened their district-wide and building-level school safety teams to discuss their experiences. How did the plan work? What have they learned? What changes or adjustments are necessary to improve procedures? Rather than waiting until the end of the school year to do the required safety plan review, you may want to consider doing the review as part of a similar debriefing. You will soon be receiving from the Comprehensive Health and Pupil Services Team a notification regarding the results of the review of this year's plans. Your experiences during the past three weeks, and your debriefing, will be of particular value to you in making any modifications suggested by the reviewers.

Though we certainly hope never to face this situation again, the ongoing concern about terrorist activity makes plan review and revision especially important. Since the majority of school safety plans were not developed with terrorism in mind, we have enclosed a list of Key Emergency Management Points that you may find helpful when you conduct your review and make revisions.

In closing, I want to acknowledge the leadership that you provided during this time of crisis. I am sure that you will continue to provide a safe and secure environment for your students, staff, parents and community. If there is any way in which this Department can assist with that effort, please do not hesitate to contact us.

1. ROLES

• Plan for school administrators NOT being present in the school district during a disaster.
• Does everyone know his or her respective role and responsibilities during a disaster?
• Does everyone know their respective role and responsibilities as they fit in the Incident Command System (ICS)?

2. COMMUNICATIONS

• Communications may be disrupted within the district and outside the district.
• Don't make the assumption that phones and cell phones will work during the emergency.
• Have alternate communication plans (runners, drivers).

• What does this mean?
• Red Cross Shelters (for the general public - may be overnight and for a number of days)
• Sheltering in place during a school bomb threat - lockdown
• Is this practiced?
• Sheltering in place during a chemical or biological threat - lockdown + HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system), etc.
• Do key building personnel know how to shut down the HVAC & seal the building?
• Is this practiced?

4. STUDENT RELEASE

• Are procedures in place for releasing students to parents/guardians following an event?
• Is this practiced?
• Are procedures in place for releasing students if parents/guardians are not available - or deceased following an event?
• Is this practiced?

5. DRILLS AND EXERCISES

• The purpose of any drill or exercise is to reveal planning weaknesses; reveal resource needs and shortfalls; improve coordination within the district and community; clarify roles and responsibilities; improve overall performance of all players.
• Exercises with key school personnel, back-ups, and local emergency responders should occur on a regular basis.
• Tabletop exercises provide an opportunity to resolve coordination and responsibility issues through a low-stress discussion of the issues.
• Functional exercises simulate a real emergency under high-stress conditions by testing coordination among various functions and outside response agencies.
• Full-scale exercises test an entire community's response capability. This involves using real equipment.