NIMS Activity 1: Adopt NIMS at the school and campus community level

K-12 schools and institutions of higher education (IHEs) support the successful adoption of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) at the school and campus community level. This includes all applicable organizational and operational offices, departments, committees, and teams within the educational entity, and is not limited by geographical locations such as rural, urban, or suburban locations.

ADOPTION

Activity 1: Adopt NIMS at the school and campus community level.

K-12 schools and institutions of higher education (IHEs) support the successful adoption of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) at the school and campus community level. This includes all applicable organizational and operational offices, departments, committees, and teams within the educational entity, and is not limited by geographical locations such as rural, urban, or suburban locations.

Association to NIMS

HSPD-5 requires NIMS adoption and implementation by all local jurisdictional levels and functional disciplines for use across the full spectrum of potential incidents and hazard scenarios. NIMS defines local jurisdictions and includes schools, school districts, and IHEs. Although schools and IHEs are not traditional response organizations, they have immediate and critical roles in response such as providing command and management directives until local first responders arrive.

When education and community response organizations (e.g., local emergency management authority, law enforcement, fire personnel, public and mental health officials) adopt NIMS, they are all taking on an uniform and systematic approach and integrating processes and methods into one unified framework. The NIMS (December 2008) structure features five integrated components that are the foundation of its systematic approach for responding to incidents: 1.) Preparedness; 2.) Communications and Information Management; 3.) Resource Management; 4.) Command and Management; 5.) Ongoing Management and Maintenance (which now includes Supporting Technology and the NIMS Incident Management Systems Integration Division). The NIMS framework forms the basis for interoperability and compatibility for all agencies with a key role in emergency management. Through joint planning, training, exercises, and evaluation activities, adoption of NIMS enables a diverse set of public and private organizations, including schools and IHEs, to conduct well-integrated and effective incident response operations.

Implementation Guidance

Since all K-12 schools and IHEs have a critical role in emergency management, it is important that they adopt NIMS at the organizational and operational levels and within all appropriate offices, departments, committees, and teams. The NIMS framework and its five components provide the necessary tools for developing an integrated school and campus emergency management program within the community's program.

NIMS adoption and implementation must be achieved in close coordination with the local government and with recognition of the first-responder capabilities held by the IHE, district and school, and the local government. As schools and IHEs are not traditional response organizations, first-responder services may typically be provided to schools and IHEs by local fire and rescue departments, emergency medical service providers, and law enforcement agencies. This traditional relationship must be acknowledged as schools and IHEs implement NIMS in coordination with community partners and collaborate on a NIMS compliance plan for both the local government and the local education agency (LEA) or IHE. LEA/IHE participation in the NIMS preparedness program of the local government is essential in ensuring that requisite first-responder services are delivered to schools and campuses in a timely and effective manner.

When adopting NIMS, it is also important for education leadership to provide guidance to the campus community. IHEs, regional education agencies, State and local education agencies, and district boards of education can all adopt NIMS at the macro level, and then can provide adoption guidance to their individual school and campus sites. For example, applicable college and university offices managed under the Office of the President or the Office of the Provost may adopt NIMS in partnership with the relevant State and local governments. The same leadership should then provide guidance with its affiliated schools and systems, such as satellite campuses, and auxiliary buildings. Guidance may include timelines, strategies for implementation, and models for partner agreements.

NIMS adoption should be formalized and documented through an authoritative rulemaking structure (e.g., board or education, board of regents) to be considered officially supporting the implementation of NIMS. The formal adoption should be continuous or include a process for renewing the adoption. For example, a school district wishing to formalize their NIMS adoption may obtain an annual Resolution from their School Board to provide formal documentation.

When applicable, as part of NIMS FY 2008 requirements, the educational entity should promote adoption by related partnerships and associations, such as their jurisdictional nonpublic education entities. For example, Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) grantees, who are required to provide equitable access to private schools within their jurisdictional boundaries, should provide nonpublic schools with the same leadership, guidance, and training opportunities for NIMS implementation, as are provided to their public schools.