Louisiana schools are responsible for the safety and care of students during emergency situations, such as natural disasters or other potential hazards. The REMS Technical Assistance Center website provides free resources, training, and technical assistance (TA) to schools and their community partners, including many tools and resources on emergency planning and responding to infectious disease outbreaks. Each of the nine regions (Louisiana emergency management and HLS planning) is represented by an OHSEP parish director. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides guidance for the implementation of emergency assistance funding by law, regulation and policy.
The Louisiana Disaster Act grants legal authority for state and local officials to prepare for, respond to, recover and mitigate disasters, while federal laws, regulations and policies play an important role in emergency management. The Emergency Management Institute offers self-paced courses designed for people with emergency management responsibilities and for the general public. Louisiana requires all public elementary and secondary schools to prepare, maintain and implement a crisis management and response plan to help ensure that all students, teachers and school employees are in a safe facility and prepared to respond in the event of an emergency incident or disaster. Under state law, the governor, the GOHSEP, the director of the GOHSEP, the president of the parish, the director of the Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (OHSEP), and municipalities have roles and responsibilities throughout the emergency management cycle.
In case of an impending emergency, the LDOE will contact the designated emergency preparedness and recovery representative to remind them to complete and maintain the emergency preparedness and recovery panel (coming soon) during the emergency. This provides a unified and coordinated approach to managing emergency incidents, allowing institutions and agencies with different legal, geographical and functional responsibilities to coordinate, plan and interact effectively. When it comes to emergency response systems in Louisiana, it is important to understand how they compare to other states' systems. Louisiana has a comprehensive system in place that is designed to ensure that students, teachers, school employees, state officials, local governments, and other stakeholders are prepared for any potential emergencies.
The REMS Technical Assistance Center provides free resources for schools to create plans for responding to emergencies. FEMA provides guidance on implementing emergency assistance funding while the Louisiana Disaster Act grants legal authority for state and local officials to prepare for disasters. The Emergency Management Institute offers self-paced courses designed for people with emergency management responsibilities. All public elementary and secondary schools must have a crisis management plan in place.
In addition, there are roles assigned to various state officials throughout the emergency management cycle. Overall, Louisiana's emergency response system is comprehensive compared to other states' systems. It is designed to ensure that all stakeholders are prepared for any potential emergencies. It provides free resources for schools to create plans for responding to emergencies as well as guidance from FEMA on implementing emergency assistance funding.
It also assigns roles to various state officials throughout the emergency management cycle.