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SB592 SUB1 Senate Bill 592 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

Senate Bill No. 592

(By Senators Palumbo, Stollings, Plymale, Unger, Browning, Minard, Foster, Wells, Fanning, Jenkins, Tucker and Kessler (Acting President))

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[Originating in the Committee on Education;

reported February 24, 2011.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact §18-9F-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-9F-9; and to amend and reenact §18-28-2 of said code, all relating to requiring that schools have crisis response plans; updating legislative findings and intent; requiring the state board in conjunction with the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to develop a model school crisis response plan, to annually review and, if necessary, update the model plan and to develop certain necessary safeguards to protect certain information in each response plan; requiring each school to form a crisis response planning team; requiring annual review of each school’s crisis response plan and updating of plan if necessary; requiring state board to promulgate rule setting forth required inclusions for each plan; and making private, parochial and religious schools subject to crisis response plan requirements.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

    That §18-9F-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-9F-9; and that §18-28-2 of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 9F. SCHOOL ACCESS SAFETY AND CRISIS RESPONSE ACT.

§18-9F-1. Legislative findings and intent.

    (a) The Legislature finds that:

    (1) Establishing and maintaining safe and secure schools is critical to fostering a healthy learning environment and maximizing student achievement;

    (2) All school facilities in the state should be designed, constructed, furnished and maintained in a manner that enhances a healthy learning environment and provides necessary safeguards for the health, safety and security of persons who enter and use the facilities;

    (3) Adequate safeguards for the ingress to and egress from school facilities of pupils, school employees, parents, visitors and emergency personnel are critical to the overall safety of the public schools in this state;

    (4) Safety upgrades to the means of ingress to and egress from school facilities for pupils, school employees, parents, visitors and emergency personnel must be part of a comprehensive analysis of overall school safety issues that takes into consideration the input of local law-enforcement agencies, local emergency services agencies, community leaders, parents, pupils, teachers, administrators and other school employees interested in the prevention of school crime and violence;

    (5) In order to help ensure safety in all schools within the state and to be prepared to adequately respond to potential crises, including any traumatic event or emergency condition that creates distress, hardship, fear or grief, each school must create a comprehensive crisis response plan as detailed in section nine of this article.

    (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to empower the School Building Authority to facilitate and provide state funds for the design, construction, renovation, repair and upgrading of facilities so as to enhance school access safety and provide secure ingress to and egress from school facilities to pupils, school employees, parents, visitors and emergency personnel.

§18-9F-9. Crisis Response Plan.

    (a) The state board in conjunction with the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management shall develop a model school crisis response plan for use by each school in the state and shall develop necessary safeguards to protect information contained in each response plan that may be considered protected critical infrastructure information, law enforcement sensitive information or for official use only. Both the model plan and the necessary safeguards shall be developed by December 31, 2011. In developing a model plan, the state board shall consider plans currently being developed as part of the safe schools initiative currently underway by the School Building Authority and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The state board in conjunction with the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management shall review the model plan each year and make any necessary updates to the model plan by December 31 of each year after 2011.

    (b) Each school within the state shall form a crisis response planning team consisting of the principal, two teachers, one service person and two parents of children attending the school. The crisis response planning team may include one member of the county board, a school counselor, a member from local law-enforcement authorities, the local county emergency services director and one student in grade ten or higher if the school has those grades.

    (c) Each school within the state, through the school’s crisis response planning team, shall develop a school specific crisis response plan by using the state board’s model plan as an example and with consultation from local social services agencies, local first response agencies including police, fire, emergency medical services (EMS), emergency management and any other local entities that the school’s crisis response planning team determines should be consulted: Provided, That a portion of any school access safety plan created pursuant to section three of this article may be used as a portion of the school specific crisis response plan if there are any overlapping requirements.

    (d) Each school’s specific crisis response plan shall be in place and filed with that school’s county board and included in a secure electronic system identified by the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency management no later than August 1, 2013, or soon after completion by the school, whichever occurs first. County boards shall provide the same necessary safeguards developed by the state board pursuant to subsection (a) of this section for the information in the plan. Each school’s crisis response planning team shall annually review its crisis response plan and shall update the plan according to procedures developed by the state board and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management if necessary. Each school shall file either an updated crisis response plan or a memorandum stating that no update to the crisis response plan was necessary with its county board and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management no later than August 1 of each year after 2013. The county board shall keep the current crisis response plan of each school on file and provide a copy of each school’s crisis response plan to each local emergency response agency that has a role in the plan. Local emergency response agencies that maintain a copy of the plan shall provide the same necessary safeguards developed by the state board pursuant to subsection (a) of this section for the information in the plan. Upon request, a redacted copy of a school crisis response plan shall be made available for inspection by the public with any information removed that is necessary for compliance with the necessary safeguards developed by the state board pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. Starting with the 2012-2013 school year, each school shall annually send notice home to all parents and guardians of students at the school alerting the parents and guardians to the existence of the crisis response plan and the ability to review a redacted copy at the offices of the county board.

    (e) No later than December 31, 2011, the state board in consultation with the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management shall promulgate rules in accordance with the provisions of article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code regarding the required inclusions for each school specific crisis plan. The rule shall require that each plan include at least the following:

    (1) The school employee in charge during a crisis and a designated substitute;

    (2) A communication plan to be used during a crisis;

    (3) Protocols for responding to immediate physical harm of students, faculty or staff and to traumatic events, including the period after the events have concluded;

    (4) Disaster and emergency procedures to respond to earthquakes, fire, flood, other natural disasters, explosions or other events or conditions in which death or serious injury is likely;

    (5) Crisis procedures for safe entrance to and exit from the school by students, parents, and employees, including an evacuation and lock down plan; and

    (6) Policies for enforcing school discipline and maintaining a safe and orderly environment during the crisis.

    (f) The rule required by subsection (e) of this section also shall include procedures for each school’s crisis response planning team to annually review its crisis response plan, and if necessary, update the plan.

ARTICLE 28. PRIVATE, PAROCHIAL OR CHURCH SCHOOLS OR SCHOOLS OF A RELIGIOUS ORDER.

§18-28-2. Attendance; health and safety regulations.

    The following is applicable to each private, parochial or church school schools or school schools of a religious order:

    (a) Each school shall observe a minimum instructional term of one hundred eighty days with an average of five hours of instruction per day;

    (b) Each school and shall make and maintain annual attendance and disease immunization records for each pupil enrolled and regularly attending classes. Such The attendance records shall be made available to the parents or legal guardians;

    (c) Upon the request of the county superintendent, of schools any a school to which this applies (or a parents organization composed of the parents or guardians of children enrolled in said the school) shall furnish to the county board of education a list of the names and addresses of all children enrolled in such the school between the ages of seven and sixteen years;

    (d) Attendance by a child at any school to which this article relates and which complies with this article shall satisfy satisfies the requirements of compulsory school attendance;

    (e) Each such school shall be is subject to reasonable fire, health and safety inspections by state, county and municipal authorities as required by law, and shall further be is required to comply with the West Virginia school bus safety regulations; and

    (f) Each school shall create a crisis response plan, as detailed in section nine, article nine-f of this chapter, and follow all requirements of that section and any rules promulgated under that section.

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