December 11, 2024

Auditor General says Arizona schools fail to meet emergency preparedness standards

The Arizona Auditor General says that school emergency operations plans throughout the state don’t meet minimum standards and that schools have not fully implemented and tested the plans they do have.

school safety security spot
Mariana Dale, AZPM

A sample review of school districts’ and charter schools’ emergency plans found most of them met fewer than half the minimum standards and some charter schools didn’t have a plan at all.

An Auditor General report also said that most of the schools did not provide emergency procedures training to all staff or conduct required safety drills.

The report said that schools needed more guidance on the standards for emergency plans, that there should be a better monitoring process, and that the role of law enforcement in the plan should be clarified.

The Arizona Department of Education, which oversees the state’s public school districts, agreed to implement all the recommendations. But the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools said it doesn’t have the resources or expertise to monitor and enforce compliance and suggested the state should handle it.

By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona