School Preparedness

Prepare Your School

Crisis Kits for Teachers and Administrators

When disaster strikes, Be Ready! Whether it's tornadoes, flooding, winter storms or an act of terrorism, emergencies can occur quickly and without warning. although we cannot prevent emergencies, we can prepare for them. Teachers and administrators need to take special care as they are responsible for the students in their care. Putting together and having on hand a crisis kit can be invaluable in times of emergency.

Administrators: Assemble a building crisis kit.

A building crisis kit contains helpful items for building staff and emergency responders during a crisis event in their local school. The following is a suggested list of items usually placed in a building crisis kit:

• A container - often a large duffel bag or backpack that can be carried
• Building emergency plans and procedures
• Copy of the most recent yearbook
• Current student, staff and visitor rosters
• Special needs of students and staff (marked confidential, use guided by HIPPA* and FERPA**)
• Campus and site maps
• Emergency phone number list
• Utility shutdown procedures
• First aid supplies and instructions 
• Water
• Vests/hats or some means of identifying team members
• Whistles 
• Building walkie-talkies
• Interoperable radio to communicate with first responders (if possible)
• Cell phone
• Flashlights and extra batteries
• Battery-operated radio and NOAA Weather Radio, and extra batteries for each
• Work gloves, disposable plastic gloves
• Electronic megaphone
• Clipboard and paper
• Pens, pencils and markers
• Blankets
• Sanitary items (paper towels, TP, wet wipes)
• Plastic drop cloths
• Breathing masks
• Duct tape
• Disposable camera
• Binoculars

*HIPAA = Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
The HIPPA Privacy Rule provides federal protections for personal health information held by covered entities and gives patients an array of rights with respect to that information. At the same time, the Privacy Rule is balanced so that it permits the disclosure of personal health information needed for patient care and important purposes.

**FERPA = Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
FERPA is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

Teachers: Assemble a classroom crisis kit.

A classroom crisis kit is meant to be a "grab and go" kit with helpful items for the classroom teacher, students, building staff and emergency responders during a crisis event. The following are suggested items for inclusion in a classroom crisis kit.

• "Grab and Go" container - usually some type of canvas/duffel bag or backpack
• Building emergency plans and procedures
• Class roster and photos, and current attendance information
• Emergency student phone information (marked confidential)
• List of classroom special needs (marked confidential, use guided by HIPAA* and FERPA**)
• Small first aid kit
• Whistle
• Water
• Note cards
• Hat, vest or some identifier for teacher
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• Clipboard and paper
• Pens, pencils, and markers
• Hand sanitizer or wet wipes
• Disposable plastic gloves
• Plastic drop cloth

Information courtesy of ReadyIowa