CPAC Tabletop Exercise

Exercise Situation Manual (SitMan)

Purpose

The Alerting Awareness – A Campus Notification Tabletop Exercise will serve as an opportunity for school / school district staff to work through scenario information and injects dealing with activating your school’s / school district’s emergency notification system.

This exercise is comprised of two scenario vignettes.

Core Capabilities

Capabilities-based planning focuses on planning under uncertainty because the next danger or disaster can never be forecast with complete accuracy. Therefore, capabilities-based planning takes an all-hazards approach to planning and preparation that builds capabilities that can be a pplied to a wide variety of incidents. The capability selected for this exercise is:

 School Emergency Notification

This capability provides the foundation for development of the exercise design objectives and s cenario. The purpose of this exercise is to measure and validate performance of this capability and its associated critical tasks.

Exercise Objectives

The exercise will focus on the following design objectives to guide exercise play:

1. To determine whether or not to issue an Emergency Alert based on the scenario and current procedures. 2. To determine the kind of information that should be included in the Emergency Alert when issued.

Participants

 Players respond to the situation presented based on expert knowledge of response procedures, current plans and procedures, and insights derived from training.  Facilitators provide situation updates and moderate discussions. They also provide additional information or resolve questions as required. Facilitators are responsible for keeping discussion on track and ensuring all responses are submitted within the ONX System.

Exercise Structure

This will be a multimedia, facilitated tabletop exercise conducted through the ONX System. As scenario information and injects are presented within the ONX System, exercise participants are expected to discuss and formulate action steps as a team. Participants will examine the cu rrent situation and engage in a group discussion of appropriate response issues based on their

Alerting Awareness Exercise 1 www.CampusShield.org plans and procedures while identifying areas for improvement. All discussions and decisions should be input into the ONX System for inclusion in exercise reports. Discussion questions and scenario information may be presented in the form of multiple choice question, short answer response, multimedia message and / or map.

Exercise Guidelines

 This is an open, low-stress, no-fault environment. Varying viewpoints, even disagreements, are expected.  Respond based on your knowledge of current plans and capabilities (i.e., you may request the use of existing assets) and insights derived from training.  Decisions are not precedent setting and may not reflect the organization’s final position on a given issue. This is an opportunity to discuss and present multiple options and possible solutions.  Issue identification is not as valuable as suggestions and recommended actions that could improve response and preparedness efforts. Problem-solving efforts should be the focus.

Assumptions and Artificialities

In any exercise a number of assumptions and artificialities may be necessary to complete play in the time allotted. During this exercise, the following apply:

 The scenario is plausible, and events occur as they are presented.  There is no “hidden agenda”, nor any trick questions.  All players receive information at the same time.

Scenarios

Active Shooter Vignette

It’s a quiet Thursday afternoon and the high school’s student body is beginning to look forward to the upcoming weekend.

At 1:22PM the sound of multiple gunshots rings out from the school's main hallway.

Your school must now respond to an active shooter situation.

Building Fire Vignette

Its 11:34AM on a Thursday and students and teachers are in the middle of classes.

Suddenly a fire alarm is activated and students, teachers and staff members are seen evacuating the building.

Hazardous Materials Vignette

It is early Friday morning when a tanker truck transporting chlorine overturns and begins to release a toxic cloud up-wind from the school.

Alerting Awareness Exercise 2 www.CampusShield.org Within a few minutes of the incident the school's administrative office is notified by the fire department of the threat and advises the school to Shelter In Place.

Alerting Awareness Exercise 3 www.CampusShield.org