Climate Change and Emergency Management: 

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.