Emergency preparedness in school districts: Findings from a national survey

Background and Significance: Schools have the ability to play a key role in mitigating, responding to, and recovering from emergencies and disasters. Thus, it is important to understand their current state of readiness.

Purpose: This analysis describes the experience of U.S. school districts with emergency response, and their current level of emergency preparedness.

Methods: Data are from a multi-stage, stratified random sample of 750 health departments, school districts, and schools. Respondents were recruited via a mailed invitation, and responses were collected with an online questionnaire. Data presented here are responses from 78 school districts.

Results: Of the school districts reporting a disaster experiences in the past three years, the most frequently mentioned disaster types were extreme heat (69%), extreme cold (68%), severe storms (68%), infectious disease outbreaks (60%) and flooding (51%). School districts were least likely to experience a volcano (0%), nuclear incident (0%), riot/civil unrest (1%), terrorism (4%), or an earthquake (5.3%) in the past three years. While school districts thought it as extremely important to engage on emergency preparedness activities (mean=4.5/5), only 48% had received assistance with response/training, 46% with emergency plans, 39% with drills/exercises, and 31% with obtaining equipment/supplies. Even with a lack of assistance, school districts gave an average preparedness rating of 4.01/5 for themselves and 3.89/5 for schools they represent.

Conclusion: These results help us understand the types of disaster experiences and emergency preparedness activities school districts have participated in, which can be used to identify priorities for improving readiness and response in the future.