HB42INTRODUCED
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PS7URE-1
By Representative Warren
RFD: Education Policy
First Read: 07-Mar-23
PFD: 23-Feb-23
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SYNOPSIS:
Under existing law, a local board of education
is required to develop a comprehensive school emergency
operations plan for each school under its jurisdiction.
This bill would require regularly scheduled
lockdown drills conducted under the plan to include the
participation of school resource officers and law
enforcement and would designate those days on which
drills are conducted as school safety and awareness
days.
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to public K-12 education; to amend Section
16-1-44, Code of Alabama 1975, providing for comprehensive
school emergency operations plans; to require the
participation of school resource officers and law enforcement
agencies in regularly scheduled lockdown drills; and to
designate the days on which lockdown drills are conducted as
school safety and awareness days.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. Section 16-1-44 of the Code of Alabama 1975,
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is amended to read as follows:
"ยง16-1-44
(a)(1) Each local board of education shall develop and
adopt a comprehensive school emergency operations plan for
each school under the authority of the board.
(2) The local board or its agent shall examine the
conditions and operations of each school under the authority
of the local board to determine hazards to student and staff
safety and shall propose changes, if needed to promote the
prevention of dangerous problems and circumstances.
(3) In developing the plan for each school, the local
board or its agent shall involve community law enforcement and
safety officials, including community fire and emergency
management assigned to the school.
(b)(1) The board shall incorporate into each
comprehensive school emergency operations plan the following:
a. Protocols for addressing each type of serious
threats to the safety of school property, students, employees,
or administrators which shall include, but not be limited to:
Security-related threats addressed within a school lockdown
plan, fire-related threats addressed within a fire safety
plan, and severe weather-related threats addressed within a
severe weather safety plan.
b. A protocol for responding to emergency events that
compromise the safety of school property, students, and
employees.
(2) Each protocol shall include procedures for
notification and responding to threats and emergency events,
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respectively, including such action as notification of
appropriate law enforcement and emergency response personnel
for assistance, and informing parents of affected students.
(3) Each comprehensive school emergency operations plan
shall include and use the following four alert levels, along
with set plans of notification, action, and procedures for
school personnel to follow in each circumstance:
1.a. Heightened Awareness. This means a potential may
exist for an unusual situation and all parties should have
heightened awareness to react as needed.
2.b. Secure Your Area of Responsibility. This means a
specific incident has occurred, such as a medical emergency or
a threat to one's self, and school personnel shall secure
their area of responsibility in order to decrease risk of
further incidents.
3.c. Secure Perimeter. A potential threat or danger
does exist or has occurred within the community or
neighborhood, and all parties should be aware to react as
needed.
4.d. Lockdown. Recognition of potential immediate
danger. Take immediate action using the safest and best option
for survival.
(c)(1) The board shall update the emergency operations
plan whenever a major modification to the building requires
changes in the procedures outlined in the plan and at other
necessary times. The school emergency operations safety plan
shall be reviewed and revised annually, as needed, by the
local board of education in consultation with the principal,
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administrative staff, faculty, and employees of the school.
(2) Upon request of law enforcement or safety
officials, or both, the local board shall provide a copy of
the current school emergency operations plan, which shall be
kept in a secure place and not considered public record.
(d) The local board shall grant access to each school
under its control to law enforcement and fire department
personnel to enable them to prepare for responding to threats
and emergency events affecting the school.
(e) The principal or his or her designee shall instruct
and train students concerning procedures to be used for
emergency drills and evacuations. The principal or his or her
designee shall ensure that all safety and security drills and
procedures are conducted and performed no less than what is
required by state or federal law, or both. The doors and exits
of each school may be locked from the outside but shall allow
for immediate egress by those inside the building during
school hours and at all school functions. An emergency drill
shall include, but not be limited to, safety, security, severe
weather, fire, and school lockdown drills.
(f) In conjunction with drills or evacuations required
by subsection (e), a principal or his or her designee shall
instruct students in safety precautions to be taken in case of
a severe weather watch, alert, or warning. A principal or his
or her designee shall designate, in accordance with standards
prescribed by the local superintendent of education in
conjunction with local public safety officials and the fire
marshal, or appropriate local fire safety official in counties
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that do not have a fire marshal, appropriate locations to be
used to shelter students in case of a severe weather watch,
alert, or warning.
(g) In the event of an immediate threat to a school
involving acts of violence, such as terrorism, a person
possessing a firearm or a deadly weapon, or any other threat
of violence, any person who perceives the threat, or his or
her designee, may institute a lockdown alert level for the
school.
(h) In addition to the requirements of subsection (e),
the principal or his or her designee shall conduct a school
lockdown drill during the first six weeks of the fall and
spring semesters of each school year to provide students with
instruction in the procedures to follow in the case of a
school lockdown. The principal or his or her designee shall
also hold an annual training session for employees of the
school regarding the school lockdown plan, drills, and
procedures to be conducted during a school year. The annual
training session shall include mental health awareness.
(1) School resource officers, school safety personnel,
and local and state law enforcement agencies shall participate
in regularly scheduled school lockdown drills.
(2) A day on which a lockdown drill is scheduled and
the importance of school safety and safety awareness is
emphasized shall be designated as a school safety and
awareness day.
(h)(i) Appropriate disciplinary action shall be taken
against any principal or his or her designee who knowingly
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neglects or refuses to comply with the requirements of this
section.
(i)(j) This section shall be read in pari materia with
other laws relating to school safety and emergency planning."
Section 2. This act shall become effective on the first
day of the third month following its passage and approval by
the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.
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