After identifying challenges and strategies/solutions, each group developed a list of planning considerations related to their breakout topic that state/tribal health and education agency staff can adapt to their local context and use to build and sustain preparedness for future PHEs. The items from each group were compiled and lightly edited for clarity and organization. Areas of focus included assessment, improvement and expansion, collaboration and engagement, training and practice. 

The list may be especially helpful for employees who were not involved with the COVID-19 response. Convening a working group to develop toolkits based on this list for state/tribal agencies and school districts would be a valuable follow-up activity.

Planning Considerations

Download a PDF version of Planning Considerations below.

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Table of Contents

Foundational Knowledge

  • Learn your agency’s organizational structure, chain of command, and overall role during non-emergency and emergency periods
    • Review the agency’s organizational chart, including recent or upcoming changes 
    • Identify un-official decision-makers and “power brokers” and how to involve them
    • Schedule meetings with staff in key positions
    • Conduct interviews with levels of chain of command
  • Increase emergency planning and response expertise through training and
  • Review the demographics and health profiles of communities and school districts in your jurisdiction
  • Meet with leaders, partners, and community members to determine priorities related to schools and PHEs
  • Visit schools to better understand their operations
  • Learn your jurisdiction’s PHE infrastructure and resources
    • Identify the lead agency for disasters
    • Identify the person who officially declares a PHE
    • Document who has authority for key responsibilities, decisions, and approvals during a PHE
    • Identify internal and interagency emergency communications channels and processes
    • Determine the roles and responsibilities of your position during a PHE, including your decision-making authority
    • Review statutory requirements and policies pertaining to PHEs and schools
    • Identify data and information resources pertaining to schools and PHEs
    • Identify other PHE resources within your agency, from key partners, and in different regions of your jurisdiction

Planning and Preparedness

  • Review and revise (as necessary) existing PHE plans, emergency operating procedures (EOPs), continuity of operations plans, after-action reviews from previous emergencies, threat/risk assessments, and other relevant materials (state/tribal and local)
  • Identify successes and failures from previous PHEs (at state/tribal and school district level)
  • Analyze your agency’s current PHE plans and approach and work with partners to identify opportunities for improvement, including:
    • Explore strategies to address disparities and increase equity and inclusion
    • Discuss strategies to address staff and student mental health during and after PHEs
    • Clarifying and documenting roles and responsibilities
  • Develop and implement a plan to disseminate PHE plans to partners
  • Identify opportunities to translate PHE plans into policies at all levels
  • Evaluate funding sources, emergency resources, and district-level needs throughout your jurisdiction and develop a needs-based, equitable distribution plan for emergency funding and supplies
  • Develop a workplan and timeline for preparedness activities that accounts for seasonal threats (e.g., influenza season, wildfires)
  • Provide subject matter expertise and technical assistance to school districts on PHE planning
  • Assess and monitor ongoing challenges, successes, and emerging threats
  • Conduct regular tabletop exercises with partners to test plans and procedures and improve coordination 
  • Provide training and resources to school districts, including regular tabletop exercises and standard protocols

Communications and Outreach

  • Improve communications skills by participating in communication/media training, including strategies for countering disinformation 
  • Attend community meetings and events to understand local needs and concerns and build relationships with community members 
  • Identify preferred mechanisms for gathering ongoing input and information from partners and community members (e.g., surveys, online meetings, in-person meetings, focus groups)
  • Establish an outreach coordinator to connect with school districts
  • Identify PHE communications staff, public information dissemination mechanisms, and approval processes for your agency and partner organizations
  • Review existing communications plans and materials and identify opportunities for improvement
  • Develop communications policies
  • Build a dissemination and contact list including formal and informal communications channels
  • Maintain list of key school district contacts
  • Identify internal and external resources to assist with communications, such as:
    • Translators
    • Health literacy and plain language experts
    • Subject matter experts
    • Graphic designers
  • Test platforms, chain of command, and messaging for PHE communications

Partnerships

  • Determine your position’s authority to initiate and build partnerships
  • Conduct asset mapping to identify current and potential state/tribal and community partners
    • Consider the following partners while asset mapping: state school nurse consultant, education agency, health department, mental health department, social services/child welfare agency, emergency operations unit, state Medicaid agency, insurance organizations, professional associations (e.g., school nurses, school social workers), unions, school districts, families, and students
  • Identify the role of each partner and what they can contribute
  • Build and maintain relationships
    • Identify historical conflicts, issues, or sensitivities related to working with partners
    • Meet with partners individually and participate in conferences, committees, and other networking events
    • Identify and implement ways to build/sustain collaborative relationships with partners by supporting their efforts and/or working together on mutually beneficial projects
    • Hold regular office hours to maintain open communication
    • Hold listening sessions with community members, partners, and school staff
    • Meet with district leaders and school staff to understand needs and concerns
  • Work with state/tribal and local education and public health partners to build baseline knowledge and understanding of each other’s systems and language
  • Establish and communicate lines of authority and define roles and responsibilities (e.g., through RACI charts) during PHEs
  • Convene and sustain committees/advisory groups/workgroups for PHE planning, guidance, and communications with state/tribal, community, school district, and family/student members that are representative of the population
  • Maintain a contact list for partners, including members of committees 

Mental Health Supports

  • Conduct assessment of student and staff mental health supports
    • Map existing efforts/initiatives
    • Conduct an environmental scan of best practices to identify potential strategies to implement
    • Hold focus groups on supporting mental health
    • Use Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) data, chronic absenteeism data, and disaggregated disciplinary data to develop a state/tribal student mental health dashboard
    • Analyze data on student and staff mental health and identify successes and concerns
  • Ensure student and staff mental health supports are included in PHE response and recovery plans
  • Strengthen relationships with education unions
  • Support connections among local agencies and school districts
  • Establish supports to engage youth in state/tribal committees
    • Train committee leaders on engaging youth 
    • Train youth in communication, advocacy, leadership, and other needed skills
  • Collaborate with partners to develop and implement programs to expand and diversify the school mental health workforce 
    • Work with Office of Professions to determine education requirements
    • Work with community colleges to develop programs
    • Secure a federal professional demonstration grant to create stipends for diversifying practitioners
  • Work with the state Medicaid agency and insurers to expand Medicaid and private insurance billing for mental health services in schools
  • Identify and apply for mental health access grants
  • Connect community and school providers with the Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Program to improve mental health supports for students 
  • Establish a statewide/tribal telemental health program
    • Identify where broadband is needed and work to build infrastructure
    • Purchase telehealth equipment
    • Contract telehealth workers on standby for surge capacity
  • Partner with children’s hospitals to implement resiliency programs in schools (e.g. Resilience Education to Advance Community Healing)
  • Collaborate with the board of education, teacher associations, and other partners to develop and implement a family-centered school mental health curriculum 

Summit Report

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This project was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number NU38OT000282, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The contents of this report are solely the responsibility of the American Academy of Pediatrics and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the Department of Health and Human Services or of any agencies or organizations of individuals who participated in the summit. 

Last Updated

11/26/2024

Source

American Academy of Pediatrics