In order to monitor and assist schools across the United States deal with natural disasters, the Department of Education has designated a five-person team to look at these matters full time, according to Education Week. With recent natural disasters in areas such as California and Florida, teams such as these are important, declared lawmakers.
“We need to know what has gone right, what has gone wrong, and what needs to improve for the sake of our children and their schools,” said Del. Gregorio Sablan, subcommittee chairman. “Because we do know that it is a question of when, not if, the next storm will hit.”
Assistant Secretary of Education Frank Brogan told the House during an education subcommittee meeting that Congressional funds often have difficulty making to disaster-prone school areas. His office of elementary and secondary education recently created a disaster recovery unit to “do on-the-ground work with schools in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, while also working to improve coordination between the Education Department and other agencies,” according to Brogan, who estimated that it had spent 20,000 work-hours into supporting schools’ recovery efforts before it stopped counting. Other efforts from the new disaster recovery unit will include technical support for aid applicants and assistance with the procurement process for federal funds, according to Education Week.
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