Chapter 151
2013 -- S 0801 SUBSTITUTE B
Enacted 07/11/13
A N A C T
RELATING TO
EDUCATION - HEALTH AND SAFETY OF PUPILS
Introduced By: Senators Gallo, Miller, Metts, DaPonte, and Satchell
Date Introduced: March 27, 2013
It is enacted by the
General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Sections 16-21-23, 61-21-24, and 16-21-25 of the
General Laws in Chapter
16-21 entitled “Health and
Safety of Pupils” are hereby amended to read as follows:
16-21-23. School
safety plans - School safety teams and school crisis response teams-
School safety plans - School safety teams, school crisis response teams,
and school safety
assessments. -- (a)
Each school district of each town, city, and regional
school department shall
conduct a school safety assessment in conjunction with local
police, fire, school safety team
pursuant to the provisions of this section 16-21-23 and any
other expert said school department
deems necessary. The assessment shall examine the current status
of each school building’s safety
and shall be performed within thirty (30) days of passage
of this act, and every three (3) years
thereafter. Assessments performed within a year of the date of
passage of this act shall satisfy this
requirement. All meetings regarding the school safety assessment
are not subject to the open
meetings law pursuant to chapter 46 of title 42, and documents
produced including, but not
limited to, meeting minutes and the school safety assessment
are not subject to the access to
public records law pursuant to chapter 2 of title 38.
(a) (b) The school committee of each town, city, and regional
school department shall
review and adopt in
executive session a comprehensive school safety plan regarding crisis
intervention, emergency response, and management. The plan shall
be developed by a school
safety team comprised of representatives of the school
committee, representatives of student,
teacher, and parent organizations, school safety personnel,
school administration, and members of
local law enforcement, fire, and emergency personnel.
Members of the school safety team shall
be appointed by the school committee and/or school
superintendent of the town, city, or regional
school district. In creating the school safety plan, the
school safety team(s) shall consult the
model school safety plan developed by the department of
elementary and secondary education
pursuant to section 16-21-23.1.
(b) (c)
The school crisis response team shall be comprised of those selected school
personnel willing to serve as members of a psychological
response team to address the
psychological and emotional needs of the school community.,
and may seek mental health
resources from the department of elementary and secondary education.
Members of the school
crisis response team may coordinate mental health services
for those students and school
employees affected by acts of violence in the schools, using
resources available through the
department of elementary and secondary education.
16-21-24.
Requirements of school safety plans, school emergency response plans,
and school crisis response plans. – (a) School safety plans, as required by this chapter,
shall
include and
address, but not to be limited to, prevention, mitigation, preparedness,
response, and
recovery. The school safety plans shall include, at a minimum, the following policies and
procedures:
(1) Policies and
procedures for responding to violence by students, teachers, other school
personnel as well as visitors to the school;
(2) Policies and
procedures for responding to acts of violence by students, teachers, other
school personnel and visitors to the school;
(3) Appropriate
prevention and intervention strategies which are based on data to target
priority needs and which make use of effective actions based
on currently accepted best practice;
(4) Collaborative
arrangements with state and local law enforcement officials, designed
to ensure that school safety officers and other security
personnel are adequately trained, including
being trained to de-escalate potentially violent
situations, and are effectively and fairly recruited;
(5) Policies and
procedures for contacting appropriate law enforcement officials and
EMS/Fire, in the event of a violent incident;
(6) Policies and
procedures for notification and activation of the school crisis response
team;
(7) Policies and
procedures for contacting parents, guardians, or persons in parental
relation to the students of the city, town, or region in the
event of a violent incident;
(8) Policies and
procedures relating to school building security, including where
appropriate the use of school safety officers and/or security
devices or procedures;
(9) Policies and
procedures for the dissemination of informative materials regarding the
early detection of potentially violent behaviors, including
but not limited to, the identification of
family, community, and environmental factors, to teachers,
administrators, school personnel,
persons in parental relation to students of the city, town,
or region students and other persons
deemed appropriate to receive that information;
(10) Policies and procedures
for annual school safety training and a review of the school
crisis response plan for staff and students;
(11) Protocols for
responding to bomb threats, hostage-takings, intrusions, and
kidnappings;
(12) Strategies for improving
communication among students and between students and
staff and reporting of potentially violent incidents, such
as the establishment of youth-run
programs, peer mediation, conflict resolution, creating a
forum or designating a mentor for
students concerned with bullying or violence, and establishing
anonymous reporting mechanisms
for school violence;
(13) A description of
the duties of hall monitors and any other school safety personnel,
including the school crisis response team, and the training
requirements of all personnel acting in
a school security capacity;
(14) Policies and
procedures for providing notice of threats of violence or harm to the
student or school employee who is the subject of the threat.
The policy shall define "threats of
violence or harm" to include violent actions and threats
of violent actions either individually or by
groups, but shall not include conduct or comments that a
reasonable person would not seriously
consider to be a legitimate threat;
(15) Policies and
procedures for disclosing information that is provided to the school
administrators about a student's conduct, including, but not limited
to, the student's prior
disciplinary records, and history of violence, to classroom
teachers, school staff, and school
security, if they have been determined by the principal to
have a legitimate need for the
information in order to fulfill their professional
responsibilities and for protecting such
information from any further disclosure; and
(16) Procedures for
determining whether or not any threats or conduct established in the
policy may be grounds for discipline of the student. School
districts, school committees, school
officials, and school employees providing notice in good faith
as required and consistent with the
committee's policies adopted under this section are immune from
any liability arising out of such
notification.
(1) Appropriate
prevention, mitigation, preparedness and intervention strategies which
are based on data to target priority needs and which make
use of effective actions based on
currently accepted best practices and once developed, the
appropriate parts of the state model
plan pursuant to general laws section 16-21-23.1 that
include consistent, plain language and
terminology;
(2) Formalized
collaborative arrangements with state and local law enforcement and fire
fighter officials, designed to ensure that school safety
officers and other security personnel are
adequately trained, including being trained to de-escalate
potentially violent situations, and are
effectively and fairly recruited;
(3) Policies and
procedures relating to school building security, including where
appropriate the use of school safety officers and/or security
devices or procedures;
(4) Policies and
procedures for annual school safety training and a review of the school
crisis response plan for staff and students;
(5) Protocols for
school personnel and students responding to bomb threats, hostage-
takings, intrusions, and kidnappings that include consistent,
plain language and terminology that
is recommended by the model plan pursuant to general
laws section 16-21-23.1;
(6) Policies and
procedures for responding to violence by students, teachers, other school
personnel as well as visitors to the school that include
consistent, plain language and terminology
that is recommended by the model plan pursuant to general
laws section 16-21-23.1;
(7) Policies and
procedures for responding to acts of violence by students, teachers, other
school personnel and visitors to the school that include
consistent, plain language and
terminology that is recommended by the model plan pursuant to
general laws section 16-21-23.1;
(8) Policies and procedures
for contacting appropriate law enforcement officials and
EMS/Fire, in the event of a violent incident and that
include consistent, plain language and
terminology that is recommended by the model plan pursuant to general
laws section 16-21-23.1;
(9) Policies and
procedures for notification and activation of the school crisis response
team that include consistent, plain language and
terminology that is recommended by the model
plan pursuant to general laws section 16-21-23.1;
(10) Policies and
procedures for contacting parents, guardians, or persons in parental
relation to the students of the city, town, or region in the
event of a violent incident;
(11) Policies and procedures
for the dissemination of informative materials regarding the
early detection of potentially violent behaviors,
including, but not limited to, the identification of
family, community, and environmental factors, to teachers,
administrators, school personnel,
persons in parental relation to students of the city, town,
or region students and other persons
deemed appropriate to receive that information;
(12) Strategies for
improving communication, including use of common, consistent plain
language by school district officials, school officials and
emergency responders, among students
and between students and staff and reporting of
potentially violent incidents, such as the
establishment of youth-run programs, peer mediation, conflict resolution,
creating a forum or
designating a mentor for students concerned with bullying or
violence, and establishing
anonymous reporting mechanisms for school violence;
(13) A description of
the duties of hall monitors and any other school safety personnel,
including the school crisis response team, and the training
requirements of all personnel acting in
a school security capacity and policies and procedures
for students, personnel who are in the
hallway during a lockdown situation that include consistent
language and terminology that is
recommended by the department of elementary and secondary
education;
(14) Policies and
procedures for providing notice of threats of violence or harm to the
student or school employee who is the subject of the threat.
The policy shall define "threats of
violence or harm" to include violent actions and threats
of violent actions either individually or by
groups, but shall not include conduct or comments that a
reasonable person would not seriously
consider to be a legitimate threat;
(15) Policies and
procedures for disclosing information that is provided to the school
administrators about a student's conduct, including, but not limited
to, the student's prior
disciplinary records, and history of violence, to classroom
teachers, school staff, and school
security, if they have been determined by the principal to
have a legitimate need for the
information in order to fulfill their professional
responsibilities and for protecting such
information from any further disclosure; and
(16) Procedures for
determining whether or not any threats or conduct established in the
policy may be grounds for discipline of the student. School
districts, school committees, school
officials, and school employees providing notice in good faith
as required and consistent with the
committee's policies adopted under this section are immune from
any liability arising out of such
notification.
(b) School safety plans,
as required by this chapter, shall further include school
emergency response plans specific to each school building
contained within each city, town, or
regional school district., and shall be developed
and approved in consultation with local police
and fire. The state police shall provide consultation for
those school districts that for whatever
reason may not have access to local police. School emergency response plans shall include, and
address, but not be limited to, the following elements:
(1) Policies and procedures
for the safe evacuation of students, teachers, and other school
personnel as well as visitors to the school in the event of a
serious violent incident or other
emergency, which shall include evacuation routes and shelter
sites and procedures for addressing
medical needs, transportation, and emergency notification to
persons in parental relation to a
student. For purposes of this subdivision, "serious
violent incident" means an incident of violent
criminal conduct that is, or appears to be, life threatening
and warrants the evacuation of students
and/or staff;
(2) Designation of an
emergency response team comprised of school personnel, local law
enforcement officials, and representatives from local regional
and/or state emergency response
agencies, other appropriate incident response teams including
a school crisis response team, and a
post-incident response team that includes appropriate school
personnel, medical personnel,
mental health counselors, and others who can assist the
school community in coping with the
aftermath of a violent incident;
(3) Procedures for
assuring that crisis response and law enforcement officials have access
to floor plans, blueprints, schematics, or other maps of
the school interior and school grounds,
and road maps of the immediate surrounding area;
(4) Establishment of
internal and external communication systems in emergencies; that
include consistent, plain language and terminology that is
recommended by the model plan
established pursuant to general laws section 16-21-23.1;
(5) Definition and
formalization of the chain of command in a manner consistent with
the national interagency incident management
system/incident command system;
(6) Procedures for review
and the conduct of drills and other exercises to test components
of the emergency response plan; and, including
use of checklists as described in section 16-21-
23.1;
(7) Policies and
procedures created in conjunction with local or state police for
securing
and restricting access to the crime scene in order to
preserve evidence in cases of violent crimes
on school property.; and
(8) Policies and
procedures for ensuring timely access to mental health services for those
students and school employees affected by a violent incident.
16-21-25. Review
of school safety plans - Waiver. -- Review of school
safety plans -
exemption from open meetings and public records requirements.
--
(a) Each city, town, or
regional department school safety plan and school emergency
response plans shall be reviewed on an annual basis by the
school committee and updated as
appropriate annually. These reviews and updates shall
be completed by November 1 of any given
year, and by December 31 of that year, the commissioner of
elementary and secondary education
shall report to the speaker of the house, the president of
the senate, and the governor that such
reviews or updates have been completed.
(b) The commissioner
of elementary and secondary education and school committee
shall make each city, town, or regional department school
safety plan and school emergency
response plan available for public comment at least thirty
(30) days prior to its adoption. All
meetings of school safety teams shall comply with not
be subject to and be exempt from the open
meetings law pursuant to chapter 46 of title 42.,
and documents produced by the school safety
teams shall not be subject to the access to public records
laws as set forth in chapter 2 of title 38.
(c) The commissioner
of elementary and secondary education may grant a waiver of the
requirements of §§ 16-21-23 and 16-21-24 to any city, town, or
regional school department for
period of up to two (2) years upon a finding by the
commissioner that the town, city, or regional
district had adopted a comprehensive school safety plan or
school emergency response plans
which are in substantial compliance with the requirements
of §§ 16-21-23 and 16-21-24.
Provided, however, no waiver shall extend beyond June
30, 2003.
SECTION 2. Chapter 16-21 of the General Laws entitled
“Health and Safety of Pupils"
is hereby amended by adding thereto the following
section:
16-21-23.1. Model
school safety plans and checklists-Development and
dissemination. -- (a)
It shall be the duty of the department of elementary
and secondary
education to collaborate with the
fire marshal, the department of behavioral health,
developmental disabilities, and hospitals, and
other safety officials to develop a model school safety
plan to be consulted by school safety teams
in accordance with section 16-21-23. This model plan
shall be based on best practices in school
safety planning and the department of elementary and
secondary education shall communicate the
plan electronically to all school committees and school
safety teams in the state.
(b) It shall be the
duty of the department of elementary and secondary education to
develop and disseminate school safety check lists that school
districts can use on a regular basis
and at least annually to assess the strengths and
weaknesses of school safety in accordance with
section 16-21-24. The check lists shall incorporate best
practices in school safety planning and
the department of elementary and secondary education
shall communicate the plan electronically
to all school committees and school safety teams in the
state.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC01640/SUB B
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