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Pandemic Flu Preparedness

Presented to the House Education Committee
May 24, 2006

Thank you for allowing our organization the opportunity to testify on school districts' preparedness for the avian flu.

Background
Pennsylvania's public schools like other political subdivisions and employers must face the ramifications of a pandemic. Our school districts, however, are unique in that they represent the critical infrastructure in a community affected by an outbreak. Some districts' buildings will be used for treating individuals infected with the virus; others school facilities will be closed to halt the spread of disease; and some may be venues for vaccine or medication distribution.

School districts will have distinct challenges unmatched by other employers. A distracted and compromised workforce will not be able to teach our students. Student attendance and performance will suffer as families become more concerned about the spread of disease and parents keep their children at home. Collective bargaining restrictions will negatively impact substitute recruitment, alternative staffing assignments or modes of work, revised scheduling to minimize exposure, layoffs, closings, and other workforce reductions. Additionally, outsourced services such as busing and food services will pose additional challenges.

Districts' Planning Activities
So what are districts doing to prepare? PSBA asked our districts to complete and return the influenza planning checklist developed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.pandemicflu.gov). We wanted to be able to give you a sense of the activities, if any, that districts initiated and their involvement in planning efforts. Unfortunately, only a small number of responses were received. Yet, it is overwhelmingly clear from those survey responses that a majority of school districts have not started the process of planning and coordination, discussed continuity of student learning and core operations, reviewed infection control policies and procedures or assessed communications planning.

A few districts have started collecting and reviewing resource information, others are making efforts to identify the authority responsible for declaring a public health emergency at the state and local levels, and most are waiting for additional guidance from emergency management authorities, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) or the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH). Some of the first steps taken by school districts include:

•  conducting superintendent meetings at intermediate units,
•  hosting meetings with local hospital staff and emergency management agency representatives to discuss local responses,
•  completing site survey forms sent to them from DOH,
•  distributing pandemic information to staff, and
•  sending staff to attend regional DOH pandemic meetings.

Concerns Cited
The emailing of this survey prompted our members to voice some very serious concerns. The most frequent point raised by our members was the method by which the Department of Health notified them that one or several of their buildings were potential POD sites. Our members indicated that their school districts' line of authority was circumvented when the Pennsylvania Department of Health sent out notices to building principals that a school building has been identified as a potential POD and no notice was sent to the superintendent. They also noted that the local intermediate unit and the local emergency management agency received copies of the notices, but the school superintendent received none. Some building principals tried to complete them without consulting their superintendent. Other principals almost threw the site survey information in the trash. One school district called the Department of Health to complain and the agency placed responsibility for the problem with PDE.

Also of major concern to our members is the lack of coordination between state agencies and the integration with local agencies. One school district in Southcentral Pennsylvania has filled out two site surveys - one for the Department of Health's POD site survey and the second from the Pennsylvania State Police because that agency is building a separate data base. The district complained that both agencies are asking for redundant information and capturing information that either the local police have on file or the county EMA maintains. They were also very concerned about divulging information on the survey form about the number of faculty that is available without being told what they should be available for. Additionally, with districts' staff turnover, school districts indicated that they do not want to be required to advise multiple agencies of personnel changes.

Additional Questions Raised
Finally, our districts have been asking us many questions. Some we have sent to the Pennsylvania Department of Health in March, others we forwarded on to the governor's office in early May. Here are a few that we received last week:
  1. Will there be or are there plans in place to close schools?
  2. Who will make a determination if schools will be required to close and how will that determination be communicated?
  3. Who will make a determination of what personal protective equipment such as masks will be appropriate for students and educators and when?
  4. Will school districts be required to share student health information?
  5. Who will assess school building sites including their ventilation and filter system to determine if there is a public health hazard after the building is used as a POD?
  6. Who will pay for the costs of school building clean-up after it is used as a POD?
  7. Is there any process of waiving child attendance rates as an indicator of measuring AYP under No Child Left Behind if schools must close because of the pandemic?
  8. How will the state ensure that poultry products being served at schools are safe and that suppliers' contamination procedures of poultry products are assured?
PSBA Offers Help
PSBA is participating in a number of workgroups and attending briefings on pandemic planning in an effort to ensure that our members are well informed about preparations for this potential crisis. We have posted multiple resources on our website and have dedicated PSBA's June issue of The Bulletin to the battle against avian flu. It will include articles from a number of different sources, including state and federal experts. It is also advertising a special broadcast that will air on Education Solutions Global Network, titled " The Facts on Pandemic Flu: Keys for Schools in Planning, Preparedness, and Procedures. " It will air twice on June 14 (10 am and 5:30 pm central time) and is an internet-based television initiative of the Missouri School Boards' Association.

The governor's office recognizes the role that local governments and school districts play and has escalated local governments' involvement. The Rendell Administration has enlisted PSBA's participation in identifying the potential consequences of a pandemic that could force the shutdown of schools, expose numerous entities in terms of legal liability, and disruption to emergency responder services.

Recommendations
Our schools expect help from the government. We would recommend the following state actions to assist school districts:

1. Model Plan. Develop a model or template plan that districts can incorporate into their emergency and safety plans. Most school personnel do not have time to cull through multiple websites or the available expertise. This is especially true for small districts that employ fewer individuals. School districts need a pragmatic guidebook for dealing with the unexpected. Specifically, they need honest information about the health risks; information on how to help reassure parents, students, and employees; how to reduce the likelihood of rumors and misinformation; direction regarding being an effective member of a crisis response team; and how to engage all of their constituencies. Districts need practical tools that can be adapted with little to no modifications for implementation.

2. Communication Tools. Provide districts with basic communications tools in English and Spanish such as brochures, FAQs, and web site articles that they could personalize with their district name, address, and telephone numbers that could be distributed to parents, children and employees. This would prevent duplication of effort and costs, avoidance of mistakes, and ensure consistent messaging.

3. Involve District Officials. Provide regular updates, as frequently as monthly, to school boards, their superintendents, and education associations on the state pandemic planning efforts, statements on subsequent aid to districts and the community including remedial and clean-up actions, statements on liability, efforts to restore student and parent confidences if there is an outbreak, and gap analysis information. Our education officials need clarification of their roles, identification of individuals who are districts' primary POCs for the pandemic, the avenues of communication that will be used, and decision-making guidelines for local school closings. Additionally, PSBA would like to provide more information about the state's preparation activities, so we can assist our members' needs. Accordingly, providing information about site surveys, the forms, and agency activities related to our schools would be welcome.

4. Training. Filter federal funds that are being made available to the states for assessment, gap analysis, education, training and outreach down to the local level. If the pandemic response is to be local, then monies will be needed to develop local plans, identify crisis communication strategies, train educators, and assist in local coordination functions.

Conclusion
Regardless of the severity of the avian flu outbreak, the more districts plan for it, the better off they will be. Our districts are relying on the Commonwealth for preparing them to deal effectively with a potential crisis and thus minimizing adverse consequences. We hope that by voicing these concerns you will help school districts get this message to those who can make a difference. Thank you.