Giving Compass' Take:

· Reuters reports on recent research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which notes that although many schools are preparing for disasters, less than two thirds of districts have a plan to handle infectious disease outbreaks.

· What responsibilities do parents have when preparing their children for school disasters? How can schools prepare for outbreaks of infections and diseases?

· Here's how schools can prepare for natural disasters. 

Many U.S. public school districts lack comprehensive plans for responding to natural disasters, infectious disease outbreaks and other emergencies despite a federal initiative for all schools to address these needs by 2020, researchers say.

Overall, roughly four out of five school districts have plans for helping students and staff with special needs during an emergency situation, the study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found. Almost four of five school districts are prepared to provide mental health services to students, faculty and staff in the wake of a disaster.

And, nearly three of four school districts have developed reunification procedures to reconnect students with their families when they’re separated during an emergency.

But less than two thirds of school districts have plans in place to handle an influenza pandemic or another type of infectious disease outbreak.

“The response to an acute emergency that happens on a single day is very different from the ongoing response to an infectious disease like influenza that may affect a school district over many weeks to months,” said Dr. Laura Faherty, a researcher at the RAND Corporation in Boston and a pediatrics professor at Boston University School of Medicine who wasn’t involved in the study.

Read the full article about school disasters by Lisa Rapaport at Reuters.