TITLE 16

Education

CHAPTER 16-21

Health and Safety of Pupils

SECTION 16-21-24



   § 16-21-24  Requirements of school safety

plans, school emergency response plans, and school crisis response plans.

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(a) School safety plans, as required by this chapter, shall 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) 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 § 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 § 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 § 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 § 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 § 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

§ 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

§ 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, including use of

checklists as described in § 16-21-23.1;



   (7) Policies and procedures 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.



History of Section.

(P.L. 2001, ch. 151, § 1; P.L. 2004, ch. 42, § 1; P.L. 2004, ch. 103,

§ 1; P.L. 2013, ch. 151, § 1; P.L. 2013, ch. 211, § 1.)