The Arizona Auditor General’s Office released a nearly 100-page report this month, stating that of the schools it reviewed, none of the school emergency operations plans (EOPs) fully met the state’s minimum standard, and none of the schools fully implemented and tested their plans.
The EOP encompasses a plan for any type of emergency, which could include wildlife coming onto campus, toxic exposures or school shootings. This plan is somewhat of a blueprint for schools to activate if an emergency were to happen.
The standards are laid out by the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) with the help of the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs (DEMA). Some of the standards laid out in the EOP could include specifying relocation sites, transportation in case of an emergency, practice drills and more.
Scott Swagerty, director of the school audits division of the Arizona, said 47 schools across Arizona were reviewed. Of that, 30 schools from 15 different public school districts were reviewed as well as 17 charter schools. ABC15 asked for the names of districts and charter schools, but Swagerty said those names would not be released due to “potential safety concerns and the sensitive nature of the district- and charter-specific information.”
Swagerty added that they selected schools of different sizes, ranging from rural to urban and different enrollment sizes. Not all schools were in Maricopa County, either. They looked at schools in 14 of 15 counties.
In an interview with ABC15, Swagerty said the findings were surprising.
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“Obviously the plans have been required for schools since 2001, so more than 20 years, they’ve been required,” he said.
A few key findings as laid out in the report:
- Most school EOPs we reviewed met fewer than half of the EOP Minimum Standards we tested and some charter schools did not have EOPs, which could affect their abilities to effectively respond to safety emergencies. We found that EOP requirements need to be more clearly communicated to charter schools, and all schools could benefit from increased outreach, guidance, and training on emergency planning.
- Most schools we visited had not provided emergency procedures training to all staff, including substitute teachers; had not conducted all required safety drills; and had not posted certain safety reference materials, which could affect their preparedness to respond to emergencies.
- Some EOP Minimum Standards are too vague, may be impractical, or lack a clear purpose. A comprehensive review and update of the EOP Minimum Standards could help ensure all standards are necessary and clearly explained.
- Most other states we reviewed had monitoring processes to ensure schools comply with EOP requirements and have more clearly defined the role of law enforcement and emergency response agencies in EOP development; changes in these areas in Arizona could help improve schools’ emergency preparedness.
The report says the deficiencies in these areas could be “increasing the risk that schools may not be fully prepared to respond to safety emergencies” or could “affect the ability to protect students in emergencies.”
“Twelve of the schools we reviewed didn’t have transportation programs, so having those kinds of plans is really essential for an emergency response,” Swagerty said.
Another point of issue in the report showed that some law enforcement officials were recently made aware they needed to collaborate with schools and charters to develop emergency plans alongside emergency response agencies. In some instances, the lack of officers in these agencies also made things difficult.
“State law requires schools to work with law enforcement as they develop their emergency plans. We found that schools had really varied in how they work with them. Some had not worked with them at all,” Swagerty continued. “Something needs to clarify what law enforcement’s role is. The statute is really silent about what law enforcement is supposed to do and ADE and DEMA have not provided guidance on what they expect law enforcement to do as part of developing and maintaining these plans.”
Recommendations were made to several agencies including the Arizona Department of Education. The Auditor General’s Office said the department should make sure charters are aware of their responsibilities to develop these plans. The report also recommends ADE and DEMA figure out what additional guidance is needed to help schools comply. Swagerty said they also made a recommendation to the state legislature, hoping they would consider what ADE needs to implement some kind of monitoring system.
“We reviewed five other states, four of which have a monitoring requirement in statute, where an entity is actually reviewing these plans on a regular basis to make sure they meet standards,” Swagerty said. “Those are some of the ways we think the states could help schools improve their emergency preparedness.”
ABC15 reached out to the Arizona Department of Education, which Superintendent Tom Horne sent a statement:
“The department considers compliance by schools with safety standards to be top priority, as the lives of students and schools staffs could be at stake. We wrote the standards and remind the schools to follow them so often that it has become white noise to them. If the legislature wants us to audit the schools' compliance, it needs to appropriate positions for that. We have only two personnel assigned to this issue and they also have other duties. We would be happy to audit the schools if the positions are appropriated.”
You can view the full report and the responses from different agencies here.
The audit was commissioned by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee in December of 2023 and is part of a series of audits that will be done on school safety. Swagerty said the next report is regarding school infrastructure. The deadline for that report is at the end of next year.
