SEDC was contracted to create an emergency plan for The Next Step (TNS) Public Charter School, which educates over 400 students in a four-story building located in one of the most ethnically diverse areas of the District of Columbia. First, we conducted an initial assessment to determine the level of preparedness and institutional priority using a set of readiness indicators developed specifically for the school.
As part of the project, SEDC interviewed day and night school staff and conducted multiple site visits and interviews to fully understand how the charter school operates. Using that information, SEDC created a customized plan that met the requirements of the International Fire Code and in a format that could be understood by the school’s administration and executed by the staff.
We created evacuation maps that included the primary egress routes, secondary evacuation paths, and the assembly area where students and staff would gather and account for everyone who was in the building. The maps were created for each classroom and for common areas of the building.
To train TNS staff on the plan, SEDC, LLC first provided training for the School Emergency Response Team on the overall plan. Then we tailored the training for staff that focused on the notification system and the actions that staff should take in those situations. To support the training, we also created a exercise that included an active shooter scenario as well as an evacuation scenario. During the training, SEDC staff would provide staff with a plausible situation and require staff to put into practice the key strategies detailed in the plan.