School District 43 is updating its emergency procedures and training its administrators to ensure schools are prepared to deal with disaster.
Plans revealed at a board of education meeting Tuesday include getting an emergency operations centre in place, updating procedures so they align with command systems used by police and fire departments, and making sure all school administrators know what to do in an emergency.
There will even be an app, developed by Vancouver School Board, made available to teachers and administrators that lays out the steps to take for each kind of emergency, from security lockdowns to earthquakes.
The update comes after SD43 hired a consultant to look at current plans and assistant superintendent Rob Zambrano said it is necessary because there has been a lot of staff turnover since the last overhaul was completed in the mid-2000s.
"This is a substantial amount of work but it's very important," Zambrano said. "We need a certain level of expertise and we need to make sure that happens universally across the district."
But making sure schools are ready for emergencies has revealed some concerns, such as the need to identify a secondary site for staff and students to be evacuated to in an emergency and that schools be able to hold students for up to five days.
Zambrano said it's not likely that would be necessary because in most cases, students would be collected by parents and caregivers, but the operational requirement is there and could pose challenges.
Port Coquitlam Trustee Michael Thomas also asked about emergency supplies at schools and who should pay for them. The issue surfaced recently after Irvine elementary school in Port Coquitlam had its emergency supplies stolen and parents had to fundraise for their replacement.
Zambrano said money for emergency supplies, about $15,000, used to be part of the district budget but in 2014, schools got $500 to top up their emergency kits.
But he admitted there has been little consistency between schools, with the bulk of supplies bought cash from parent fundraising, resulting in equity issues, and a recommended supply list hasn't been available for some years.
As to theft, Zambrano said it's a problem for schools that keep supplies outside and he recommended rolling bins that can be brought outside as necessary. But he noted supplying the bins would also require funding.
