Mohave County
Department of PUBLIC HEALTH
700 W. Beale Street, Kingman AZ
Local educational
agencies (LEAs) play an integral role in protecting the health and safety of
their district's staff, students and their families. The Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
developed the following checklist to assist LEAs in developing and/or improving
plans to prepare for and respond to an influenza pandemic.
Building a strong relationship with the local
health department is critical for developing a meaningful plan. The key planning
activities in this checklist build upon existing contingency plans recommended
for school districts by the U.S. Department of Education (Practical
Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide For Schools and Communities (PDF)
Checklist Sections:
Planning and Coordination
Continuity of Student Learning and Core
Operations
Infection Control Policies and Procedures
Communications Planning
1. Planning and Coordination
Tasks
Not Started
In Progress
Completed
Identify the authority responsible for
declaring a public health emergency at the state and local levels
and for officially activating the district's pandemic influenza
response plan.
Identify for all stakeholders the
legal authorities responsible for executing the community
operational plan, especially those authorities responsible for case
identification, isolation, quarantine, movement restriction,
healthcare services, emergency care, and mutual aid.
As part of the district's crisis
management plan, address pandemic influenza preparedness, involving
all relevant stakeholders in the district (e.g., lead emergency
response agency, district administrators, local public health
representatives, school health and mental health professionals,
teachers, food services director, and parent representatives). This
committee is accountable for articulating strategic priorities and
overseeing the development of the district's operational pandemic
plan.
Work with local and/or state health
departments and other community partners to establish organizational
structures, such as the Incident Command System, to manage the
execution of the district's pandemic flu plan. An Incident Command
System, or ICS, is a standardized organization structure that
establishes a line of authority and common terminology and
procedures to be followed in response to an incident. Ensure
compatibility between the district's established ICS and the
local/state health department's and state education department's
ICS.
Delineate accountability and
responsibility as well as resources for key stakeholders engaged in
planning and executing specific components of the operational plan.
Assure that the plan includes timelines, deliverables, and
performance measures.
Work with your local and/or state
health department and state education agencies to coordinate with
their pandemic plans. Assure that pandemic planning is coordinated
with the community's pandemic plan as well as the state department
of education's plan.
Test the linkages between the
district's Incident Command System and the local/state health
department's and state education department's Incident Command
System.
Contribute to the local health
department's operational plan for surge capacity of healthcare and
other services to meet the needs of the community (e.g., schools
designated as contingency hospitals, schools feeding vulnerable
populations, community utilizing LEA's healthcare and mental health
staff). In an affected community, at least two pandemic disease
waves (about 6-8 weeks each) are likely over several months.
Incorporate into the pandemic
influenza plan the requirements of students with special needs
(e.g., low income students who rely on the school food service for
daily meals), those in special facilities (e.g., juvenile justice
facilities) as well as those who do not speak English as their first
language.
Participate in exercises of the
community's pandemic plan.
Work with the local health department
to address provision of psychosocial support services for the staff,
students and their families during and after a pandemic.
Consider developing in concert with
the local health department a surveillance system that would alert
the local health department to a substantial increase in absenteeism
among students.
Implement an exercise/drill to test
your pandemic plan and revise it periodically
Share what you have learned from
developing your preparedness and response plan with other LEAs as
well as private schools within the community to improve community
response efforts.
Develop scenarios describing the
potential impact of a pandemic on student learning (e.g., student
and staff absences), school closings, and extracurricular activities
based on having various levels of illness among students and staff.
Develop alternative procedures to
assure continuity of instruction (e.g., web-based distance
instruction, telephone trees, mailed lessons and assignments,
instruction via local radio or television stations) in the event of
district school closures.
Develop a continuity of operations
plan for essential central office functions including payroll and
ongoing communication with students and parents.
Work with the local health department
to implement effective infection prevention policies and procedures
that help limit the spread of influenza at schools in the district
(e.g. promotion of hand hygiene, cough/sneeze etiquette). Make good
hygiene a habit now in order to help protect children from many
infectious diseases such as flu.
Provide sufficient and accessible
infection prevention supplies (e.g., soap, alcohol-based/waterless
hand hygiene products, tissues and receptacles for their disposal).
Establish policies and procedures for
students and staff sick leave absences unique to a pandemic
influenza (e.g., non-punitive, liberal leave).
Establish sick leave policies for
staff and students suspected to be ill or who become ill at school.
Staff and students with known or suspected pandemic influenza should
not remain at school and should return only after their symptoms
resolve and they are physically ready to return to school.
Establish policies for transporting
ill students.
Assure that the LEA pandemic plan for
school-based health facilities conforms to those recommended for
health care settings (Refer to www.hhs.gov/pandemicflu/plan/sup4.html).
Assess readiness to meet communication
needs in preparation for an influenza pandemic, including regular
review, testing, and updating of communication plans.
Develop a dissemination plan for
communication with staff, students, and families, including lead
spokespersons and links to other communication networks.
Ensure language, culture and reading
level appropriateness in communications by including community
leaders representing different language and/or ethnic groups on the
planning committee, asking for their participation both in document
planning and the dissemination of public health messages within
their communities.
Develop and test platforms (e.g.,
hotlines, telephone trees, dedicated websites, and local radio or TV
stations) for communicating pandemic status and actions to school
district staff, students, and families.
Develop and maintain up-to-date
communications contacts of key public health and education
stakeholders and use the network to provide regular updates as the
influenza pandemic unfolds.
Assure the provision of redundant
communication systems/channels that allow for the expedited
transmission and receipt of information.
Advise district staff, students and
families where to find up-to-date and reliable pandemic information
from federal, state and local public health sources.
Disseminate information about the
LEA's pandemic influenza preparedness and response plan (e.g.,
continuity of instruction, community containment measures).
Disseminate information from public
health sources covering routine infection control (e.g., hand
hygiene, cough/sneeze etiquette), pandemic influenza fundamentals
(e.g., signs and symptoms of influenza, modes of transmission) as
well as personal and family protection and response strategies
(e.g., guidance for the at-home care of ill students and family
members).
Anticipate the potential fear and
anxiety of staff, students, and families as a result of rumors and
misinformation and plan communications accordingly.
