District presents updated Emergency Operations Plan; board to consider formal adoption in June

Oak Park Schools’ emergency operations planning team presented an updated Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) to the Board of Education on May 12 and told trustees the district plans to bring a final draft to the board for adoption at the June meeting.

Cal Myers, an emergency-operations specialist with IMT who’s part of the district team, said the update followed federal and state best practices and the Michigan State Police Office of School Safety recommendations. Myers said the team performed a vulnerability and risk assessment, integrated threat-assessment protocols that include behavioral threat assessment, and aligned roles and responsibilities across the district.

Myers said the process was collaborative and iterative: the superintendent formed an EOP update team; staff and outside experts reviewed existing plans; and the district collected feedback that will be incorporated into the final draft. He said the plan must be “feasible, assessable, acceptable and actionable” and tailored to Oak Park’s resources. Myers noted the planned timeline: distribute the draft for coordination and collaboration, incorporate feedback, and present a comprehensive draft for board adoption at the June meeting.

District leaders highlighted prevention, response and recovery steps and described training and communications measures, including parent-student reunification procedures. Director of Culture and Climate Derek Falk and Director of Operations Tiffany Campbell asked trustees to submit written questions during the meeting so staff could gather answers from the broader team; staff emphasized that the EOP will be an electronic, living document with continued training and periodic review.

Why it matters: trustees were told the EOP will set district-wide expectations for responses to incidents including intruders, violent threats, bomb threats, fires and severe-weather events, and that adoption will create a single, superseding safety policy for the district. The team said members logged more than 400 hours on the update over the past year and that training and tabletop exercises will follow board adoption.

Next steps: staff will distribute the draft to stakeholders for review and incorporate feedback into a final version for board consideration in June. The team asked trustees to submit written questions to be routed to the EOP team for coordinated answers.