The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) presented the School Safety Special Audit findings to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. The OAG was tasked with auditing school emergency operations plans, emergency operations planning, emergency response and/or emergency preparedness. This is a bit confusing. The OAG website states the following:
- School districts’ and charter schools’ emergency response practices and plans.
- School districts’ and charter schools’ key physical safety infrastructure and multimedia data communication systems.
- School safety interoperability fund.
- Other areas relating to school emergency response and preparedness as deemed appropriate by the Auditor General and approved by JLAC.
The title of the OAG report is Arizona School Safety – School Emergency Operations Planning. Plan is a noun. Planning is a verb.
In this situation, plan is a document, the EOP. Planning is the activity involved in creating the EOP. The audit findings did not include planning activities or planning teams with the exception of activities that were not completed.
Even still, those findings were based on the review of the plan rather than the planning activities. I suppose the incomplete activities could be attributed to planning but should they be?
This is where grammar is helpful. Plan and Planning should not be used interchangeably. It is confusing. Maybe this is only confusing to people who are not using the terms interchangeably or for people who are not that interested in planning teams or how plans are developed.
I am not one of those people. When I think of planning, I think of planning teams. The planning teams are essential to developing effective EOPs. Students, parents and community members need to be on the team unless it compromises the integrity of the plan or the overall safety of the school.
The planning is far more important than the plan. This is where relationships are established and trust is built. I can not think of another school related activity that is as effective in doing either of those things. This is where our energy should be focused.
As far as AFN is concerned, there was a paragraph about EOPS and mention of IEPs. I don’t recall seeing 504s. The ARS was identified by the OIG as it related to EOPs. There was brief description of requirements for LEAs as established by ADE and DEMA. Also mentioned were FEMA, EMI, ICS, ERPs and LE.
The acronyms are handy but add to the confusion. I was saying that there wasn’t much about students with disabilities and nothing about staff or visitors with disabilities. t least not in the presentation.
To be continued