Dear Colleagues,

On Thursday, June 27th and again on Friday, June 28th, 2013, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Healthy Students and its Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center will host90-minute webinars that provide an overview of two recently released guides:

• Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans; and
• Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Institutions of Higher Education.

In January 2013, the President put forward his “Now is the Time” plan to reduce gun violence.  One of the executive actions put forth in his plan was the development of these new guides that have been developed by the Departments of Education; Justice, led by the FBI; Homeland Security, led by FEMA; and Health and Human Services. 

These new guides will help schools and institutions of higher education develop and implement high-quality emergency operations plans (EOPs), and describe the principles and processes that will help ensure planning efforts are aligned with the emergency planning practices at the national, state, and local levels.

These webinars will be done in collaboration with all of the Federal agencies that worked together to develop the guides, and will provide an overview of:

• the key principles for developing a comprehensive EOP for a school or IHE;
• the planning process for developing, implementing and refining an EOP for a school or IHE;
• the form, function, and content of a school or IHE EOP plan; and
• topics that support emergency operations planning including, but not limited to, information sharing, school climate, active shooter situations, and psychological first aid for schools.

In order to accommodate as many interested parties as possible, there will a 90-minute school guide webinar and a separate 90-minute IHE guide webinar on June 27^th and these two webinars will be repeated on June 28^th.  In addition, both webinars will be archived for those unable to participate on the 27^th or 28^th.

The webinars will include a 60-minute presentation on a guide and a 30-minute question and answer session, along with information on how to access more information and resources.

The webinars are first come, first serve; we strongly encourage you to pre-register!Registration can be accessed at: http://remstacenter.org/webinars/WebinarsJune2728.aspx.

Webinar dates and times are as follows:

Thursday, June 27th, 2013

• 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. ET (90 minutes) An Overview of the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans.
• 3:00 - 4:30 p.m. ET (90 minutes).An Overview of the Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Institutions of Higher Education.

Friday, June 28th, 2013

• 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. ET (90 minutes) An Overview of the Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Institutions of Higher Education.
• 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. ET (90 minutes) An Overview of the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans.

We hope you can join us! If you are unable to do so, these webinars will be archived on the REMS TA Center website (http://rems.ed.gov) for you to access at your convenience. 

Please share this email with anyone who may be interested in participating in these webinars.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

The REMS TA Center Team

REMS Technical Assistance Center

http://rems.ed.gov

1-855-781-7367 (REMS)

[email protected]

8757 Georgia Avenue

Suite 1440

Silver Spring, MD 20910

r/ Greg

Greg Hollingsead, CPP, PSP

Protective Security Advisor, Nebraska District

US Department of Homeland Security

402-981-8970 Cell

Today, the Administration released guides for developing high-quality emergency operations plans for schools, institutions of higher education (IHEs) and Houses of Worship. These guides align and build upon years of emergency planning work by the Federal government and are the first joint product of DHS, DOJ, ED and HHS on this critical topic. The guides are customized to each type of community, incorporate lessons learned from recent incidents, and respond to the needs and concerns voiced by stakeholders following the recent shootings in Newtown and Oak Creek and the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma. Schools, IHEs and Houses of Worship can use them to create new plans as well as to revise and update existing plans and align their emergency planning practices with those at the national, state, and local levels.

Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans

The Guide is accessible here: http://rems.ed.gov/docs/REMS_K-12_Guide_508.pdf [PDF, 1822 KB]

Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Institutions of Higher Education

The Guide is accessible here: http://rems.ed.gov/docs/REMS_IHE_Guide_508.pdf [PDF, 2197 KB]

Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Houses of Worship

The Guide is accessible here: http://rems.ed.gov/docs/Developing_EOPs_for_Houses_of_Worship_FINAL.pdf [PDF, 399 KB]

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ANNOUNCEMENT: Obama Administration releases guides for developing high-quality emergency operations plans for schools, institutions of higher education (IHE) and houses of worship.

On June 18, 2013 the Obama Administration released the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans, the Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Institutions of Higher Education and the Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Houses of Worship.   These guides are the culmination of years of emergency planning work by the Federal government, and the first joint product of ED, DHS, DOJ and HHS on this critical topic. The guides incorporate lessons learned from the recent shootings in Newtown and Oak Creek as well as the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma, can be customized to each type of community, and may be used to create new emergency plans as well as to revise and update existing plans.

The planning process outlined in the guides will help schools, IHEs and houses of worship align their emergency planning practices with those at the national, state, and local levels. National preparedness efforts, including emergency planning, are now informed by Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 8, signed by the President in March 2011, which describes the nation’s approach to preparedness. This directive represents an evolution in our collective understanding of national preparedness, based on the lessons learned from terrorism, hurricanes, school incidents, and other emergencies.

The new guides translate the planning guidance from these recent developments to the school, IHE and houses of worship contexts, ensuring that they benefit from these advancements, and introduce schools, IHEs and houses of worship to a new approach to planning that includes walking through different emergency scenarios to create a course of action for each objective the team is trying to accomplish, whether it be providing fire prevention training to all students and staff that work with combustible materials or evacuating everyone in the building.

The Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans, the Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Institutions of Higher Education and the Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Houses of Worship may be accessed on the REMS TA Center website (http://rems.ed.gov) at the following location: http://rems.ed.gov/EOPGuides.

If you have any questions, please call me at 402-981-8970. 

r/ Greg

Greg Hollingsead, CPP, PSP

Protective Security Advisor, Nebraska District

US Department of Homeland Security

402-981-8970 Cell