NIMS Activity 5: Develop plans to incorporate NIMS and reflect the National Response Framework

K-12 schools and institutions of higher education (IHEs) work closely with community partners to develop, implement, and refine emergency management plans to incorporate NIMS components, principles, and policies as well as reflect the National Response Framework (NRF).

PREPAREDNESS: PLANNING

Activity 5: Develop, implement, and refine emergency management plans to incorporate NIMS and reflect the National Response Framework (NRF).

K-12 schools and institutions of higher education (IHEs) work closely with community partners to develop, implement, and refine emergency management plans to incorporate NIMS components, principles, and policies as well as reflect the National Response Framework (NRF).

Association to NIMS

Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (HSPD 5) puts forth the NIMS and the National Response Framework (NRF) to improve the nation's all-hazards incident management and response capabilities at all levels, and by all disciplines. The NRF is always in effect and works to ensure the nation is continually ready to coordinate assistance without formal activation. The NIMS creates command and management supports and the NRF serves as the key framework for building support to the nation in the event of an emergency incident.

NIMS and NRF are companions, and both extend flexible, scalable, and adaptable coordinating structures to align key roles and responsibilities across jurisdictions, throughout the nation using an all-hazards approach. Together, the NIMS and the NRF integrate the capabilities and resources of various governmental jurisdictions, incident management and emergency response disciplines, non-governmental organizations, and the private-sector into a cohesive, coordinated, and seamless national framework for domestic incident management, before, during and after an emergency. The NRF employs the NIMS standardized structures and tools that enable a unified approach to be effective both on scene and at the emergency operations centers.

The NRF is comprised of the core document, the Emergency Support Functions (ESF), Support, and Incident Annexes, as well as the Partner Guides. The core document describes the doctrine that guides our national response, roles and responsibilities, response actions, response organizations, and planning requirements to achieve an effective national response to any incident that occurs. Together, these five principles of operation constitute national response doctrine: engaged partnerships, tiered response, scalable, flexible and adaptable operational capabilities, unity of effort through unified command, and readiness to act. Furthermore, the NRF encourages a higher level of readiness through planning, organizing, training, equipping, exercising, and applying lessons learned.

The NRF framework also puts forth the Emergency Support Function Annexes, Support Annexes, Incident Annexes, and Partner Guides as described below:

• Emergency Support Function (ESF) Annexes: Organize resources and capabilities into functional areas that are most frequently needed in a national response (e.g., Transportation, Firefighting, Mass Care).
• Support Annexes: Describe essential supporting aspects that are common to all incidents (e.g., Financial Management, Volunteer and Donations Management, Private-Sector Coordination).
• Incident Annexes: Address the unique aspects of how we respond to seven broad incident categories (i.e., Biological, Catastrophic, Food and Agriculture, Nuclear/Radiological, Cyber, Mass Evacuation, and Terrorism).
• Partner Guides: Provide ready references describing key roles and actions for local, tribal, State, Federal, and private-sector response partners.

Additional information and guidance supporting the NRF are accessible at NRF Resource Center http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nrf/.

The school and IHE emergency management plan should document and describe any organizational structures, roles and responsibilities, policies, and protocols for providing emergency support as it relates to the NRF and their collaborative efforts with community partners such as the local emergency management authority. Schools and IHEs are not likely to be tasked with NRF management responsibilities; however, some may have support roles and responsibilities, depending upon their local community.

Implementation Guidance

NIMS and NRF are interrelated and both work to build all-hazards emergency management capacity. By integrating the NIMS components, principles, and policies and NRF into planning activities and continually refining the plan, schools and IHEs working collaboratively can help facilitate a coordinated response; hasten the start of recovery activities; and drive decisions on prevention and mitigation efforts or risk-based preparedness measures for specific hazards.

Building from the NIMS and NRF frameworks, schools and campuses should work with the community partners and the local emergency management authorities to ensure they are not only continually ready to activate an all-hazards response, but also are continually compatible with partnering response entities across multiple jurisdictions and disciplines. Using the components, principles, and policies articulated in NIMS and NRF, schools and IHEs can engage community partners to develop and refine site-specific school and campus emergency management plans that provide strategies and appropriate timelines for providing training, practice, and enhancement opportunities.

NIMS and NRF also emphasize ongoing plan maintenance and continual improvement. School and campus emergency management teams should collaboratively review and update plans with partners. The plans should reflect the tenets for continual improvement through training, exercises, and debriefing activities and document the relationships with community partners.

The district, school, and IHE emergency management program should be a collaborative effort and be continually supported through close coordination with community partners. Although schools, districts, and IHEs may not be tasked with leadership roles under the NRF, depending upon their broader community, they may serve as critical team members and be tasked with related, supportive roles and responsibilities. Therefore, schools, districts, and IHEs, in close coordination with their community partners should include processes for continually incorporating NIMS and NRF components, principles, and policies such as working with community partners to assess risk, continually refining the plan, conducting training and exercises, and securing partnership agreements for resource management.

Participation in ESF activities reflects the nature of the regional, state, or local emergency management initiatives; takes into consideration the unique role, capacity, and resources of each entity, including schools and IHEs, and acknowledges the traditional relationship schools have with response service agencies. Although most schools and IHEs may not have specific support roles and responsibilities under the NRF, many of its principles (e.g., practice, training, continual improvement) can be integrated into school emergency management programs.

The following sample activities build upon the NIMS and NRF framework and work to build readiness and capacity of schools and IHEs in close coordination with local traditional response agencies:

• Scheduling and conducting plan review meetings with community partners;
• Providing ongoing training to support the implementation and continual improvement of the plan;
• Designing, conducting, and evaluating collaborative emergency exercises that include testing specific components of the plan and its capabilities;
• Leading debriefing meetings and writing after-action reports that put forth tangible activities and timelines for updating the plan; and
• Submitting the revised plan to the local community government.

Schools and IHEs, regardless of Federal awards, may also have roles and responsibilities under the NRF by nature of the regional, state, or local emergency management initiatives designed to support the whole community, including educational entities, their students, and their staff. Both the REMS and EMHE discretionary grant programs' priorities as well as OSDFS resources put forth key NIMS and NRF principles. As the LEA or IHE reviews and revises it emergency management plans, officials can incorporate the key principals of the NIMS and NRF such as continual improvement based on exercises and training with community partners.