WASHINGTON – A study released May 17 by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) indicates that many U.S. school districts are not adequately prepared to respond to a crisis.

Director of Education, Workforce and Income Security Cornelia Ashby testified before the House of Representatives’ Committee on Homeland Security that while most have developed multi-hazard emergency management plans, some plans and activities do not address federally recommended practices.

For example, based on GAO’s survey of a sample of public school districts, an estimated 56 percent of all school districts have not employed any procedures in their plans for continuing student education in the event of an extended school closure, such as might occur during a pandemic, and many do not include procedures for special needs students. Fewer than half of districts with emergency plans involve community partners when developing and updating these plans. Finally, school districts are generally not training with first responders or community partners on how to implement their school district emergency plans.

According to the GAO report, many school district officials said they experience challenges in planning for emergencies and some school districts face difficulties in communicating and coordinating with first responders and parents, but most said that they do not experience challenges in communicating with students. For example, in an estimated 62 percent of districts, officials identified challenges stemming from a lack of equipment, training for staff, and personnel with expertise in the area of emergency planning as obstacles to implementing recommended practices.

School district officials who responded to the survey reported difficulty in following the recommended practice of allocating time to emergency management planning, given the higher priority and competing demand on their time for educating students and carrying out other administrative responsibilities. Based on the survey of school districts, the GAO estimates that in 70 percent of all districts, officials consider competing priorities to be a challenge to planning for emergencies.

In an estimated 62 percent of districts, officials cited a lack of equipment and expertise as impediments to emergency planning. That equipment included appropriate door locks and two-way radios.

Ashby’s testimony can be found online at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07821t.pdf.

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