The state has updated its school safety plan templates to align with the federal one. (Photo by RonBailey/iStock Getty Images)

State’s school safety plans get ‘major’ update

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

The state has updated its school safety plan templates to align with the federal one. (Photo by RonBailey/iStock Getty Images)

The state has updated its school safety plan templates to align with the federal one. (Photo by RonBailey/iStock Getty Images)

School safety programs received a “major overhaul” this year from the state agency designed to keep 140,000 students safe.

Changes made by the Comprehensive School Safety Program are considered confidential, but  can include:

  • Adding a new school building.
  • Updating information for an existing one that’s renovated.
  • Making changes if there’s a sharp rise or decline in enrollment.
  • More specific plans about uniting parents and children after an event.

RELATED: State trains districts on reuniting families after school crisis

The major overhaul came about partly to align Delaware’s safety plans with the federal template, said Nicole Shuler, who leads the safety program.

The agency works with 233 public schools.

Details are available through an emergency management portal.

“That’s where we house all of our emergency plan templates, and annually, the schools, usually the principals, assistant principals or a designated safety and security person goes in, they review the template and update accordingly,” said Nicole Shuler, who leads the safety program.

It’s housed in the Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

The safety plans are confidential, but they are broken down into seven sections that include hazard and threat specific annexes, recovery and mitigation, plan administration, functions and more.

The  plans aren’t just to prepare for tragedies such as active shooters, but also to prepare for bomb threats, different types of natural disasters and more. 

The online information includes mental health details, both to prevent negative situations from occurring, but also to assist students and staff in recovering if an emergency does happen.

One key element is reunification, which plans how to bring together students, staff and families in the aftermath of an incident. 

The safety program was created in 2012 through Delaware’s Omnibus School Safety Act.

It’s meant to enhance public safety in all public schools through the development and maintenance of comprehensive, site-specific, National Incident Management System-compliant safety and emergency preparedness plans.

The National Incident Management System is through the federal government and guides all levels of government, which includes public schools, to work together to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to and recover from incidents.

The system provides stakeholders across the whole community with the shared vocabulary, systems and processes to help streamline emergency plans and ensure personnel effectively communicate and collaborate in those situations.

Likewise for Delaware, the state’s Comprehensive School Safety Program focuses on a cohesive and coordinated approach between state and local emergency responders, education professionals  and other supporting agencies and disciplines during critical incidents at schools.

It’s administered by the Delaware Emergency Management Agency, and the Comprehensive School Safety Program is made of two former law enforcement officers with a vast amount of expertise to include mental health components. 

Shuler pointed out that in addition to the plans, schools are required by law to have two lockdowns and one tabletop drill each year. 

Lockdowns, for example, would be preparing for an active shooter, and making sure the building, classrooms and specific areas are secure, and that there’s no entryways for outside threats.

“The basic premise is to keep the danger out and to keep those inside safe,” Shuler said. 

An example of a tabletop exercise, she said, is pretending that someone on a bus started having seizures and fell to the ground and all the children on the bus are panicking and freaking out. 

“A tabletop is where you get together with people, and it might be your multidisciplinary team at a school with administrators, counselors, psychiatrists, school safety individuals,” she said, “and it could even be somebody from outside law enforcement or a first responder, so you take all of those individuals, and annually, you put them in a room and you say, here’s the situation, we have a medical emergency.”

Those workers all discuss how to handle the situation.

For both lockdowns and tabletops, faculty responds or discusses a possible response that is aligned with the school safety plan. 

Individual schools must submit their plan by Nov. 1 every year, and the Delaware Emergency Management Agency must approve them.

A bill that was passed by the General Assembly a couple years ago, and updated this year, required all new school buildings and all renovated buildings that cost $1 million or more to install ballistic glass and a panic button at the entryways.

This is also something the state makes sure is completed when approving the safety plans each year. 

“School Emergency Operations plans are a comprehensive guide that addresses the overarching activities a school takes to help prevent and mitigate a variety of dangers and situations as well as prepare for proper response and effective recovery,” Shuler said. 

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