SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Each school day, more than 50 million students are entrusted to the care of our educational facilities. On most days, our schools are safe havens for teaching and learning.  However, in addition to acting as educators, counselors, and mentors, school personnel may also on occasion need to serve as first responders for an array of emergency incidents. Each year, natural disasters such as tornadoes, floods, and severe storms affect schools. Health-related incidents such as flu outbreaks, food-borne diseases, and even rabid animals can threaten schoolchildren. And, accidents — whether in chemistry labs, sporting venues, or on school buses — may occur.   

Unfortunately, schools are not at all immune from intruders, crime, or violence. The unprecedented terrorist attack against a school in Beslan, Russia in 2004 shocked the entire world. An analysis of the Beslan school attack found that responders failed to establish and maintain clear incident command.

Given today’s threats, schools must be prepared to respond in partnership with local, State, tribal, and Federal agencies. As partners, we must respond together in a seamless, coordinated fashion using the same terminology and approach.  The Incident Command System, or ICS, is a standardized, on-scene, all-hazard incident management approach. ICS allows school personnel and community responders to adopt an integrated organizational structure that matches the complexities and demands of the incidents without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries. The ICS structure is flexible. It can grow or shrink to meet different needs. This flexibility makes it a very cost-effective and efficient management approach for both small and large situations.

GOALS:

In this course, you’ll learn ICS principles that can be applied to school-based incidents. And, more importantly, you’ll be better able to interface with other community responders.  The goal of this Signet North America ICS for Schools course is to provide a solid half-day of high-energy, interactive and informative education designed to take the attendee through a wide range of subject matter designed by the Emergency Management Institute in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education.  The overall course goal is to promote school safety by:

• Familiarizing you with how ICS principles can be applied in school-based incidents.
• Preparing you to interface with community response personnel.

PREREQUISITES:

NONE REQUIRED