Emergency & Crisis Management
The responsibility of schools to protect the safety of students and employees takes on added urgency during emergency and crisis situations. VDOE provides technical assistance and resources for use by local educators and first responders in developing or refining school division-level and building-level emergency and crisis management plans.
Model School Crisis Management Plan
The Model School Crisis Management Plan (PDF) includes model policies, procedures, and forms that can be adopted or modified to meet local needs and accommodate existing resources. The Model School Crisis Management Plan focuses on:
- preparation for crises
- identification and intervention with students who may present a potential threat
- response to events which impact the school, but do not present serious threat of harm to students, personnel, or facilities, and
- management of critical incidents which do involve threats of harm.
The Model School Crisis Management Plan was developed in response to amendments to §22.1-278.1, Code of Virginia, enacted by the 1999 Virginia General Assembly, which requires local school boards to ensure that each school develops a written school crisis and emergency management plan. The Model Plan was updated in response to action by the 2002 General Assembly to include two new sections provided as addendums to the original plan:
Resource Guide for Crisis Management in Virginia Schools
The 2007 publication, Resource Guide for Crisis Management and Emergency Response in Virginia Schools (PDF), represents both best practice and the most recent information available. It was developed with the assistance of a representative advisory group from school divisions and state agencies.
At the current time, hard copies of the 2007 Resource Guide for Crisis Management and Emergency Response in Virginia Schools (PDF) are not available. The document is only available from the VDOE website.
Emergency Drills
State law requires schools to conduct weekly fire drills during the first twenty school days in order that pupils may be thoroughly practiced in such drills. During the remainder of the school session, fire drills must be conducted at least monthly. Schools also must conduct at least one tornado drill every school year.
- The Virginia Educator’s Guide for Planning and Conducting School Emergency Drills (PDF)
- School Exit Drill Form (PDF)
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