Emergency evacuation plans are posted and practiced at schools

Yes

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by John Adams

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Emergency evacuation plans are very important to ensure the safety of the schools' students and faculty. Without these plans available, and without the proper practice and drills, the student body and teachers have their lives at risk in case of an emergency.

It is in fact required by federal law that all schools, both public and private, must have emergency evacuation plans posted in each and every room. Not all schools will follow this law, and not all schools are inspected by the federal government to ensure the schools are following the laws. The schools that are inspected do still neglect posting these evacuation plans, and when caught, they lose their federal funding. A lot of private schools nationwide refuse to post these evacuation plans as well, and they become even less effected than public schools since some of them do not receive federal funding anyway.

Having an emergency evacuation plan also lowers the cost of insurance a school needs, because the risk of death and injury in an emergency is tremendously lower.

Even with these emergency evacuation plans, there seems to be less and less emergency drills each year. This can become a big problem since the evacuation plans are posted or left unexplained and unpracticed. Students need to be disciplined and taught the correct procedures when it comes to an emergency. An emergency is already enough chaos in itself to deal with, and the last thing a school needs is thousands of children running and screaming frantically with no guidance during a very serious situation.

At the same time, the faculty needs to be trained well enough to handle these emergencies and dangerous situations. The faculty (including teachers) should be required to attend a short 1-hour class each year with a correct demonstration and consultation on the emergency, evacuation, and safety plans. Teachers need to be able to direct their students in the right direction even without the evacuation plans. There is no use for an evacuation plan that is potentially burned down during a fire, so this is something serious that the faculty and teachers need to know off-hand.

Until the federal government cracks down on the schools' refusal on posting emergency evacuation plans and teaching their faculty and students the correct procedures, lives will continue to be at a constant everyday risk. Parents and citizens alike should take action and have these issues resolved before innocent young lives become ended in a tragedy that could have been prevented.

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