Pandemic Flu Action Kit

Excerpt from letter to schools from Arne Duncan and Kathleen Sebelius
Full Letter[pdf]

Most public schools already are required to have emergency plans, which ideally consider a range of scenarios. The summer months ahead offer time to prepare and refine school "all-hazards" plans and ensure that parents make their own contingency plans. To that end, we recommend the following:

* Update your emergency plans and ensure all your contact lists are up to date. If you do not already have such a plan, we encourage you to develop one. To initiate or build upon an all-hazards plan, visit www.ed.gov/emergencyplan and http://rems.ed.gov.

* Collaborate with your state and/or local health departments. Useful information, including health department contacts, can be found at www.naccho.org or www.astho.org.

* Consider ways to promote good hand hygiene (including teaching proper hand washing technique, and providing opportunities and appropriate supplies for hand washing), regular cleaning and disinfection of surfaces in schools, and other infection control measures. More information about controlling infectious diseases at schools can be found at www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu.

* Develop response and communications plans to ensure that students or staff with fever or flu-like symptoms do not come to school or are sent home; advise parents of these plans.

* Advise parents to develop contingency plans should their children become sick and need to stay home or in the event their school is forced to close.

* Identify faith-based and community-based organizations that can assist with care and supervision of non-infected children whose schools may be closed.

* Consider alternative mechanisms for delivery of education content, leveraging community resources if appropriate and possible. See http://free.ed.gov.

* Consider alternative mechanisms for delivery of school meals to at-risk children.

* Work with local and/or state health departments to collect real-time data on school closures and rates of illness and absenteeism that will be shared with the Department of Education and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

We are also collaborating with mayors, governors, and state and local public health officials about contingency plans. Our hope is that the summer months can be used to develop and share a coordinated public health strategy that aims to protect our children and families and minimize disruptions.

We face an uncertain situation. Nevertheless, there are measures we can all take to meet the potential public health challenges that lie ahead, and your commitment to that end is critical to the overall effort. We want to work closely with you to ensure you have the support you need to provide a safe learning environment for our nation's students. You may call on us and our staffs at any time, and we will check in with you throughout the summer and the school year. In the meantime, you may find helpful information at these Web sites: www.ed.gov and www.cdc.gov. If you have questions for the Department of Education, feel free to send them to flu@ed.gov
[Posted May 12, 2009]

Kansas Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Action Kit

This Action Kit is designed to provide you with practical tools you and your staff can use to prepare for a pandemic flu outbreak. Many of the tools in this Kit were designed for and can be used for seasonal flu and will help your school with planning and preparedness efforts. They should also help parents and families begin their preparations. Many, however, are concerned that there are other more important things to plan for. You will find that these tools can also be helpful in the creation of foundational elements of emergency preparedness planning that will be useful in any situation.

At the present, there is no pandemic flu in the United States and many feel that the threat of pandemic has been over-stated. In Kansas, we are preparing using a moderate impact pandemic as a baseline for our efforts. The threat is real.

KASB and KDHE hope this action kits help with preparedness efforts in your district.

HOW TO USE THIS ACTION KIT

This Kit is available in multiple formats. On this site you can download the kit in its entirety as a pdf file. You can also, using the table below, browse the different items, and, when available, choose the file type you would like to see. This is especialy important for things like the sample release and letters as you can open them in Microsoft Word and make any changes necessary. This Kit was sent to all KASB member USDs on CD.

Click here to download the complete
Kansas Pandemic Influenza Preparedness
Action Kit For Schools
[Please note: this is a 93 page pdf file
and may take a while to download]

Individual Kit Components - by section

Letters

Kansas Cover Letter