Climate Change and Emergency Management:
How the San Mateo County Office of Education Helps Districts and Schools Become Climate Ready
Overview
California’s school communities have begun experiencing the impacts of climate change, including physical damage to buildings and infrastructure, disruptions to learning, increased student absences, and emotional trauma. To help schools navigate this new terrain and its impacts, the San Mateo County Office of Education has incorporated climate adaptation into its emergency planning and response protocols. This work builds on the County Office of Education’s extensive work in emergency planning and school safety, health and wellness, and environmental literacy and sustainability. As the backbone agency for San Mateo County’s Coalition for Safe Schools and Communities, the County Office of Education has developed tools and resources that can be customized and adapted for local education agencies.
Laying the Foundation for Collaboration on Behalf of Safe Schools and Communities
Following the 2012 school shooting in Newtown CT, San Mateo County leaders established the San Mateo County Coalition for Safe Schools and Communities, a collaborative, multi-agency group focused on creating safe and supportive schools and communities. The San Mateo County Office of Education provides backbone support to the Coalition, whose mission is to identify and address the safety needs of county youth, work across agencies to implement best practices in emergency response and mental health, and support these efforts with a legal framework for lawful information-sharing that uses a common language.
The Coalition has developed several protocols and frameworks that have been adopted by all 23 of the county’s school districts, plus public safety organizations and other partners. These protocols include The Big Five, a set of immediate emergency response protocols, the Student Threat Assessment Protocol, the Suicide Prevention Toolkit, and several other resources aimed at keeping students safe and supported.
The Coalition has also developed several associated resources addressing facilities, hazard responses, air quality, fire watches, and when to close a school. The Coalition’s collaborative approach has allowed this work to expand and deepen to include emerging climate threats such as flooding and high heat.
Prioritizing Climate Action in San Mateo County Schools
In 2017, the San Mateo County Office of Education became the first county office of education in the state to launch a comprehensive environmental literacy and sustainability initiative, with the goal of ensuring all students have access to high-quality environmental education as part of their journey of learning, growing, and reaching their fullest potential.
As part of this work, the County Office of Education began collaborating with San Mateo County’s Sustainability Department. Through this work, the County Office of Education expanded its environmental work to include climate change and its impacts on school communities. For example, the County Office of Education was able to bring the voice of schools into monthly Regionally Integrated Climate Action Planning Suite meetings and the Climate Ready San Mateo County Initiative, which aimed to build leadership and collaboration across the county for addressing climate risks, including sea level rise, rising temperatures and heatwaves, wildfires and wildfire smoke, flooding, and landslides, that had begun to impact San Mateo County. As a result of this collaboration with the County Office of Education, several county agencies began to explore how they might support schools in preparing for and responding to climate-related emergencies.
This work accelerated after CalMatters published its Disaster Days report examining the amount of instructional time public schools lose each year to natural disasters, unsafe conditions, and other emergencies in California. Upon digesting this report, San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools Nancy Magee prioritized integrating climate-related threats into the Coalition’s emergency response resources for schools.
Integrating Climate-Ready School Protocols into Emergency Preparation and Response Work
The decision to integrate a climate-ready mindset into emergency preparation and response during the 2018-19 school year was timely, as San Mateo County continued to be impacted by wildfires and wildfire smoke for several weeks, leading to school closures. The Coalition for Safe Schools and Community’s air quality, fire safety, and school closure decision-making documents helped schools navigate those challenging times. Since then, the California Department of Public Health and California Department of Education’s Emergency Services staff have used the Coalition’s air quality guidance as a model for updates to their own resources for schools. The Coalition is also developing resources to help schools and districts plan for and respond to additional climate impacts, including high heat and flooding.
The San Mateo County Office of Education also serves as a hub for schools and families when wildfire smoke and flooding impact schools, coordinating with and sharing information among superintendents, maintaining website pages to track school closures, and serving as a liaison for schools with county and state agencies.
Additionally, the County Office of Education’s Director of Sustainable Construction and Facilities, Coordinator of Environmental Literacy and Sustainability, and Coordinator of School Safety and Risk Prevention work closely with school districts to help them understand and plan for the impacts of climate change. Their work builds on the County Office of Education’s multi-year leadership in environmental literacy and sustainability.
Moving Forward: Preparing Students and Schools
The Coalition for Safe Schools and Communities and the San Mateo County Office of Education will continue to support schools in preparing for and responding to the impacts of climate change. This includes developing new guidance and tools, adjusting existing protocols to reflect improvements in science, and collaborating with partners to provide technical assistance to schools. The County Office of Education will also support districts in securing funding to make needed updates and serving as a convenor to promote awareness and better collaboration among educators and emergency response organizations.
Climate change impacts extend far beyond physical infrastructure; they affect the mental health of students and educators. The County Office of Education is partnering with the nonprofit Ten Strands to develop instructional materials that empower students to be environmentally literate, engaged community members who are prepared to act for the well-being of their family, broader community, and environment. Instead of being grounded in fear, the resources provide a trauma-informed path forward, helping students develop a solutions-oriented mindset. The California Legislature and other partners have funded the development of these K-12 resources, which will be freely available to all educators beginning in late spring of 2025.
Lessons Learned
Climate-related emergencies are here now and increasing in frequency and severity. Their impacts on schools include physical damage to buildings and infrastructure, disruptions to learning, and emotional trauma.
Having a multi-agency team in place, like the Coalition for Safe Schools and Communities, allows a county to sustain key relationships across jurisdictions, respond quickly in an emergency, develop shared protocols, and reduce confusion and inefficiencies when agencies and school districts work in silos. This coordination is especially important to medium to small school districts (75% of districts in California).
Shared protocols, toolkits, templates, and other resources help district and school leaders prepare for and respond to climate and other emergencies, while keeping their communities informed.
When it comes to climate and weather-related emergencies, the importance of coordination across the county is becoming increasingly evident.
Next Steps
Continue to develop new guidance and tools, adjust existing protocols to reflect improvements in science, and collaborate with partners to provide technical assistance to schools.
Continue to develop, in partnership with Ten Strands - and release in late spring 2025 - trauma-informed climate change educational resources for schools across California.
Continue to support schools in becoming climate-ready, including hosting a Climate-Ready Schools Symposium for education leaders on April 30, 2024.
Continue to share the work with other counties and the state.
Resources
San Mateo County Coalition for Safe Schools and Communities: The Coalition is coordinated by the San Mateo County Office of Education and has a mission to identify and address the safety needs of county youth, work across agencies to implement best practices in emergency response and mental health, and support with a legal framework for lawful information-sharing that uses a common language. The Coalition has developed several protocols and frameworks for improved coordination and information sharing across agencies as well as resources to help schools respond to climate emergencies.
The Big Five Emergency Protocols Website and Resources: The Big Five is a common immediate action plan adopted by all San Mateo County school districts and law enforcement agencies. Created by the San Mateo County Coalition for Safe Schools and Communities, the document provides five immediate action responses in any given emergency: Shelter in Place; Drop, Cover, and Hold On; Secure Campus; Lockdown/Barricade; and Evacuation. The Big Five has become the cornerstone of emergency response for San Mateo County’s schools.
Climate-Related Emergency Preparation and Response Protocols and Resources: This Coalition for Safe Schools and Communities resources address air quality, hazard responses, fire watch, and conditions for closing a school to in-person learning and instruction.
San Mateo County Office of Education Environmental Literacy and Sustainability Initiative: The Environmental Literacy and Sustainability Initiative supports San Mateo County schools in prioritizing environmental literacy and integrating environmental sustainability and climate-ready practices into their curriculum and campuses.
Climate Ready San Mateo County Initiative: An initiative, launched in 2019 by the San Mateo County Government’s Sustainability Department, to build leadership and collaboration across the county for addressing the many climate risks that have begun to impact San Mateo County.
Climate Impact Focus Areas - Overview and Adaptation Analysis for San Mateo County TK-12 Schools: This document supports educational leaders, school safety officers, and those involved in emergency planning for San Mateo County TK-12 schools with data and strategies for preparing their school community to be climate resilient.
San Mateo County Multijurisdictional Local Hazard and Mitigation Plan: This plan, developed in 2021, is a large regional and cross-jurisdictional effort to plan for the reduction of risk from natural and man-made disasters. The plan includes the San Mateo County Office of Education.
Ten Strands Climate Change and Environmental Justice Program: Ten Strands has partnered with the San Mateo County Office of Education to develop instructional materials that empower students to be environmentally literate, engaged community members prepared to act for the well-being of their family, broader community, and environment. Being developed with funding from the California Legislature and other partners, these K-12 resources will be freely available to all educators beginning in late spring of 2025.
Meet the Team
Nancy Magee
San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools
Mason Henricks
Coordinator, School Safety and Risk Prevention
Ron Soper
Director, Sustainable Construction and Facilities
Julie Hilborn
Coordinator, Environmental Literacy and Sustainability
Patricia Love
Executive Director, Strategy and Communications
Mary McGrath
Executive Director, Safe and Supportive Schools