Although I have not experienced a weather-related disaster that resulted in deaths at a school, I was present during a flash flood that caused several people—staff, students, and teachers—to suffer minor injuries. The event catalyzed the community into action. The existing emergency management plan was fairly detailed and yet it was not taken seriously enough by school administrators to have in place the requisite resources or protocols. More importantly, staff and teachers were not being trained properly. The main way to prevent and minimize casualties due to a weather-related event is through preparation and planning, with leadership, communication, and coordination the number one priorities. Schools are often heralded as the community hubs for safety, serving as shelters during weather emergencies. Yet as Stalker, Cullen & Kloesel (2015) point out, schools are also filled with “high concentrations of people that cannot respond quickly,” a situation that is exacerbated when teachers and staff are unprepared (p. 75). The structural integrity of schools is usually reliable during weather emergencies, but school architectural, interior, and exterior design may need to be renovated in order to allow for improved flow of people and more evident pathways to safe areas (Williams, 2016). Administrators do not need to invest heavily in structural design changes to promote safety during extreme weather events. Simply by training staff and teachers in...

Some teachers had easy access to the auditorium, where they knew to gather during emergencies. Others had difficulty navigating through long corridors replete with heavy doors that were difficult to prop open to promote the mass exodus of children and staff from classrooms into the auditorium. Of the injuries that were suffered, most were related to being pushed and shoved, with one person being trampled on and several being hit by doors or windows. Clutter and problems like metal from lockers also caused some minor lacerations. These types of injuries are thankfully minor but would have been preventable with clear guidance and strong leadership, with minor changes made to institutional design.
Another way the school could have prevented injuries would have been to utilize the resources available through government agencies like the National Weather Service (2007), which offers information pamphlets perfect for distribution in public schools. One of the most important issues for teachers and administrators will be how to best communicate with parents, many of whom will panic and instinctually want to drive to the school to get their children. Parents therefore need information, updated at least once at the beginning of the…