Sonoma County Grand Jury • 2004-2005

Protecting the County’s Assets

Published: August 26, 2005 12 pages
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Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F15

Findings and Recommendations 2 findings

F14
All School District Superintendents are targeted to have completed SEMS-based plans by March 31, 2006 Response: The USDOE project is targeted to every school in Sonoma County and in accordance project objectives and with state law, is requesting that every school submit an annual SEMS/NIMS-compliant plan to the project (SCOE/USDOE) before December 31, 2005. The project is developing an Emergency Operation Plan template that, when completed in each district and by each school site, will meet the compliance requirement. This requirement for district superintendents will be encouraged and assisted by the USDOE project but achievement of the objective will require priority commitment by each superintendent and direction by the County Superintendent of Schools. According to recent Grand Jury investigation reports (Napa County), it is our understanding that it is the responsibility of the County Office to assure that compliant annual plans are submitted and reviewed by the County Office and that Districts are held accountable for the quality of their emergency plans as part of their Safe School Plan. Our current strategy is to distribute the Emergency Operation Plan template to all districts and schools before September 30, 2005 with a letter of request and instructions for compliance from the County Superintendent of Schools. The plan template will include three parts: 1) Guide to EOP planning, 2) Response Plan, and 3) Classroom and Administrative Offices Response charts. On behalf of SCOE/USDOE the project will request that EOP plans be submitted for review and archiving. Submission by every school and district will meet both the grant objectives and compliance with state mandates. Planned SCOE activities will address the following: County Superintendent of Schools: Provide leadership to all district superintendents in all Emergency Management activities on a continuing basis. Meet with all district superintendents to discuss the importance of having SEMS/NIMS compliant plans. Inform all SCOE staff of SCOE’s Emergency Plan and ensure that all staff are allowed adequate time for training and exercise activities. District Superintendents: Meet with County Superintendent to discuss the importance of having SEMS/NIMS-compliant plans. Provide leadership to their schools to ensure that the model plans are customized for each district and at each school site level. Superintendents are further responsible for informing all district office staff of the plan and allowing adequate staff time for training and exercise activities. School Principals: Ensure that the Classroom Quick Reference Guides are provided to each teacher. Post an Administrative Quick Reference Guide in the main office. Inform all staff of the plan and allow adequate staff time for training and exercise activities. Grant Staff: Complete the model plan and provide to districts by September, 2005. Provide ongoing support and resources to schools in the implementation and customization of the plan. Produce Quick Reference Guides based on customized information received from districts and distribute to each district office, school office and one for each classroom. F16. In the existing pre-SEMS plans, the role of SCOE if a specific school or school district should incur a major disaster is unclear. Currently, there is no clear system in place to coordinate information throughout the school community. A school closure process was established several years ago with SCOE coordinating the information and distributing it to local media. This system was developed so parents and staff could receive school closure information that was accurate and timely. The system has most often been utilized during severe winter storms and flooding incidents. Within school districts, there are usually systems in place to ensure that schools communicate with their own district office during an emergency, but beyond that, the process is unclear. The agency to take primary responsibility for Emergency Management in our county should be determined as soon as possible. SCOE is one obvious choice because of its current relationship with the districts and the leadership role of the County Superintendent. However, RESIG has the expertise in Emergency Management and can fulfill this role as well. The County Superintendent and RESIG’s Executive Director should meet to discuss the issues involved and make a decision as to which agency is to assume this role and the level of support that can be expected from the districts. During a disaster of the magnitude that would require the activation of EOCs, there is no coordination of response or information beyond the district level. Using the SEMS/NIMS model, the appropriate flow of information should be from the school site (cid:1) to the district office (cid:1)to the appropriate city EOC (for response) AND to RESIG or SCOE (for coordination of information) (cid:1)to the Sonoma County Op Area EOC (cid:1)to the Coastal Region OES EOC (cid:1)then to the State OES EOC [See Figure 1]. Right now there is no central collection point for the coordination of information when multiple schools or districts are involved in an incident (such as a large earthquake). The USDOE Grant is presently serving as the central source for information and services related to Disaster Planning and Emergency Management, but there is no system established to gather and coordinate information during an actual event. RESIG or SCOE can serve in this role if a system is put into place that clearly delineates this responsibility and the system is clearly communicated to all members of the school community. The advantage of having a central coordination point is to facilitate the most efficient and effective flow of information and resources. If this system can be established, it will aid in response efforts as well as in the recovery process. RESIG currently has a representative who serves in the Logistics Section of the Sonoma County Op Area EOC in the event of a declared disaster. This person’s 1 R9. Ascertain whether an extension to the USDOE grant timetable is possible, and determine if an extension would be desirable. The term of the current grant expires on March 31, 2006. Additional funds are not available after that date. An additional USDOE Grant that will involve all of the five counties in Region I (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Sonoma and Mendocino) is under development. Mendocino will be the LEA. We will not know the outcome of that grant until October of 2005. If the Region 1 grant is successful, some minimal funding will be available for Sonoma County to continue some of the projects being developed with current grant funds. However, additional funds will be necessary to provide on-going support of the current projects. R10. Review the letter from the US Department of Education regarding the Russian school hostage emergency, and expedite action and replies from all school districts. The “Beslan” letter was sent to every Superintendent across the nation by the USDOE in October of 2004. This letter was also handed out to all participants at a USDOE Grant Administrative Workshop on January 12, 2005. Many of the recommendations are already being included in the USDOE Grant activities. A RESIG representative serves on the Sonoma County Op Area Emergency Coordinator’s Forum as well as the Op Area Emergency Council. This representative facilitates the link between the schools and law enforcement as well as other emergency response agencies. Many of the recommendations contained in the letter require significant funds to accomplish. Budgetary restrictions may make these recommendations impossible to implement at the present time. However, many of the recommendations are already being addressed through grant activities or by the school districts themselves. Raising awareness in schools, among law enforcement agencies as well as in the community are primary focus areas of the USDOE Grant. R12. Ensure that the role of SCOE in actual post-disaster scenarios is identified and publicized. See responses to F16. R13. Review the check-in/check-out procedures at the main (SCOE) facility and determine if a change is desirable. In the spring of 2005, after extensive research with Sonoma County offices, other County Offices of Education, surveying staff, dialogue with bargaining group representatives, and review by the SCOE Safety Committee, the check-in/check- out system was discarded. The value of having an accurate check-in/check-out security system is being able to track who is in the SCOE building at any one time; however, there was no way to ensure reliable tracking. It was common for visitors to check-in, but fail to check-out. There is a registration system in place for workshops and meetings, so visitors can be accounted for in case of emergency. RESPONSES TO SONOMA COUNTY GRAND JURY FINAL REPORT
Related Recommendations (1)
R14
- Implement a common parent-contact system as soon as possible. It is essential to make sure that all parents and guardians are provided with accurate, up-to-date information in the event of a disaster. Many parents work outside of Sonoma County and will be making every effort to return and retrieve their children as soon as possible. The media is often the only source of information for parents and these news reports can be incomplete and sometimes inaccurate. The USDOE Grant staff has researched several notification systems to notify parents and guardians in the event of a disaster. A common drawback to many of these systems is the need to maintain a huge database of contact information for each parent or guardian. Cost is often prohibitive as well. Currently, the staff is working on setting up a system called SCAN USA (Secure Cops Alert Network). The benefit of this system is that each parent or guardian signs up for the service on their own and they are responsible for updating their information -- not the school. They can also customize their service by zip code and by topic so they only receive alerts that are pertinent to their child's school or school district. It is also a FREE service which is an added bonus. Messages are generated at the school site and are then transmitted via cell phone text message, fax or e-mail. An alert will be received that directs subscribers to the SCAN USA website to view the message. The messages received through SCAN USA are posted in "real" time, which allows the school to provide up-to-the-minute information on topics such as school closures, incidents in progress, and status reports in large-scale events. This system cannot be the only method of communication because some parents don't have internet access -- which is required. The County of Sonoma Department of Emergency Services has access to a system called CityWatch which is a phone-tree system that can be activated regionally. This would allow schools to provide information to the county who would in turn activate the system to initiate a large volume of calls simultaneously. This CityWatch system is being evaluated for potential use by schools. clerical costs of registering parents for alert listings. The biggest challenge of the SCAN system is that everyone must go online and register. School site, district, and offices of education must register as agencies and designate an authorized person to issue appropriate level alerts. The process is simple and explained online at http://agency.scanusa.com. Individuals (parents and others) also must register at www.scanusa.com and designate the types of alert messages that they want to receive. The directions on the site are clear and easy to follow. (See the attached SCAN motivational pieces and directions to be sent to all administrators and parents by the Project this fall) Because some parents lack these amenities, however, we will also recommend school telephone trees, town hall meetings and other methods to alert parents Issue an Emergency Alert and Contact Information Card (being designed by the Project) Every year each parent should be issued a wallet size emergency alert and contact card with school registration information that would be filled out by them and contain the following information : 1. Telephone Tree Contact #s (at least two names) 2. SCOE Emergency Hotline telephone number 3. Call letters and dial number of local radio and TV stations that will carry bulletins/updates 4. Designated meeting place for children(s) rendezvous 5. Schoolguard.org for emergency and school release information 6. Medical emergency contact name and number
F16
In the existing pre-SEMS plans, the role of SCOE if a specific school or school district should incur a major disaster is unclear. Currently, there is no clear system in place to coordinate information throughout the school community. A school closure process was established several years ago with SCOE coordinating the information and distributing it to local media. This system was developed so parents and staff could receive school closure information that was accurate and timely. The system has most often been utilized during severe winter storms and flooding incidents. Within school districts, there are usually systems in place to ensure that schools communicate with their own district office during an emergency, but beyond that, the process is unclear. The agency to take primary responsibility for Emergency Management in our county should be determined as soon as possible. SCOE is one obvious choice because of its current relationship with the districts and the leadership role of the County Superintendent. However, RESIG has the expertise in Emergency Management and can fulfill this role as well. The County Superintendent and RESIG’s Executive Director should meet to discuss the issues involved and make a decision as to which agency is to assume this role and the level of support that can be expected from the districts. During a disaster of the magnitude that would require the activation of EOCs, there is no coordination of response or information beyond the district level. Using the SEMS/NIMS model, the appropriate flow of information should be from the school site (cid:1) to the district office (cid:1)to the appropriate city EOC (for response) AND to RESIG or SCOE (for coordination of information) (cid:1)to the Sonoma County Op Area EOC (cid:1)to the Coastal Region OES EOC (cid:1)then to the State OES EOC [See Figure 1]. Right now there is no central collection point for the coordination of information when multiple schools or districts are involved in an incident (such as a large earthquake). The USDOE Grant is presently serving as the central source for information and services related to Disaster Planning and Emergency Management, but there is no system established to gather and coordinate information during an actual event. RESIG or SCOE can serve in this role if a system is put into place that clearly delineates this responsibility and the system is clearly communicated to all members of the school community. The advantage of having a central coordination point is to facilitate the most efficient and effective flow of information and resources. If this system can be established, it will aid in response efforts as well as in the recovery process. RESIG currently has a representative who serves in the Logistics Section of the Sonoma County Op Area EOC in the event of a declared disaster. This person’s 1
No recommendations for this finding

Additional Recommendations 12

These recommendations are not explicitly linked to specific findings.

No Responses Found 1

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.

Sonoma County County Superintendent of Schools Elected County Office