Emergency Preparedness and Factors Influencing Decision-Making in a Sample of Public K-12 Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Study.

Abstract

Objectives: Evaluate factors influencing the decision-making processes of school administrators and investigate the existence and use of emergency operations plans (EOPs) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Using survey data representative of US K-12 public schools in 2022, the prevalence of 16 factors that influenced reporting school administrators' COVID-19 prevention strategy implementation decision-making (Wave 4; N = 399) and the presence and use of school EOPs (Wave 5; N = 400) are presented overall and by urban-rural classification, poverty level, and school level. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a subset of school administrators and used thematic analysis to understand factors influencing implementation of prevention strategies and emergency preparedness.

Results: School district requirements or recommendations (81.6%) was the top reported factor influencing decisions on the use of COVID-19 prevention strategies. Although most schools created or updated their EOP during the 2021/2022 school year (78.1%), only 26.7% implemented or exercised an EOP during the COVID-19 pandemic. Themes from qualitative analysis focused on factors influencing the implementation of prevention strategies, limitations of current EOPs, and importance of continuous investment in school preparedness.

Conclusions: Investing in actions to improve schools' capacity to respond to emergencies such as developing comprehensive EOPs, building partnerships, and defining roles and responsibilities is important.