Florida Senate - 2022 SB 670 By Senator Cruz 18-00265-22 2022670__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to emergency drills in public schools; 3 amending s. 1006.07, F.S.; revising district school 4 board duties relating to fire drills and emergency 5 drills; expanding requirements for district school 6 board procedures relating to drills for active 7 assailant and hostage situations; requiring district 8 school boards to establish procedures to provide 9 advance notification of drills for active assailant 10 and hostage situations to parents and to provide 11 parents with an option to excuse their students from 12 drills requiring evacuation from a building; requiring 13 such procedures to allow certain students to elect to 14 remain on school premises during drills requiring 15 evacuation from a building and remain excused from the 16 drills; requiring such procedures to address the needs 17 of exceptional education students; providing an 18 effective date. 19 20 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 21 22 Section 1.Subsection (4) of section 1006.07, Florida 23 Statutes, is amended to read: 24 1006.07District school board duties relating to student 25 discipline and school safety.The district school board shall 26 provide for the proper accounting for all students, for the 27 attendance and control of students at school, and for proper 28 attention to health, safety, and other matters relating to the 29 welfare of students, including: 30 (4)EMERGENCY DRILLS; EMERGENCY PROCEDURES. 31 (a)Formulate and prescribe policies and procedures, in 32 consultation with the appropriate public safety agencies, for 33 fire drills and emergency drills for other and for actual 34 emergencies, including, but not limited to, fires, natural 35 disasters, active assailant and hostage situations, and bomb 36 threats, for all students and faculty at all public schools of 37 the district comprised of grades K-12. 38 (b)Require public elementary schools to conduct at least 39 six fire drills and six emergency drills each school year. Four 40 of the six fire drills must involve evacuating a building to a 41 designated meeting location outside of the building. Meeting 42 locations must vary between drills to minimize drill fatigue and 43 the creation of unnecessary exposure to active threats or 44 assailants. Two of the six fire drills may constitute fire 45 prevention training with content designed by the Division of 46 State Fire Marshal or the Department of Education, but only 47 after a minimum of two evacuation drills have occurred. Four of 48 the six emergency drills must address active threats, including, 49 but not limited to, active assailants, hostage situations, or 50 bomb threats. Two of the six emergency drills must address 51 natural disasters. 52 (c)Require public middle and high schools to conduct at 53 least four fire drills and six emergency drills each school 54 year. Three of the four fire drills must involve evacuating a 55 building to a designated meeting location outside of the 56 building. Meeting locations must vary between drills to minimize 57 drill fatigue and the creation of unnecessary exposure to active 58 threats or assailants. One of the four fire drills may 59 constitute fire prevention training with content designed by the 60 Division of State Fire Marshal or the Department of Education, 61 but only after a minimum of two evacuation drills have occurred. 62 Four of the six emergency drills must address active threats, 63 including, but not limited to, active assailants, hostage 64 situations, or bomb threats. Two of the six emergency drills 65 must address natural disasters. 66 (d)Require district school drills to be conducted in 67 developmentally appropriate and age-appropriate manners, consist 68 of unique sets of circumstances that require faculty and 69 students to consider the response to specific threats, and be 70 delivered using plain language. 71 (e)Require district school drills for active assailant and 72 hostage situations to shall be conducted in accordance with 73 developmentally appropriate and age-appropriate procedures at 74 least as often as other emergency drills. Procedures relating to 75 such drills must be developed in consultation with at least one 76 mental health professional and be consistent with guidance 77 provided by the National Association of School Psychologists. 78 Law enforcement officers must be physically present and directly 79 involved in the execution of all such drills. 80 (f)Adopt District school board policies that shall include 81 commonly used alarm system responses for specific types of 82 emergencies and verification by each school that drills have 83 been provided as required by law and fire protection codes and 84 may provide accommodations for drills conducted by exceptional 85 student education centers. District school boards shall 86 establish emergency response and emergency preparedness policies 87 and procedures that include, but are not limited to, identifying 88 the individuals responsible for contacting the primary emergency 89 response agency and the emergency response agency that is 90 responsible for notifying the school district for each type of 91 emergency. 92 (g)Establish procedures to provide notification of drills 93 to parents before a drill occurs. The procedures must provide a 94 parent with the option to excuse his or her student from any 95 drills that require evacuation from a building. The procedures 96 also must allow a student whose parent has excused him or her 97 from a drill that requires evacuation from a building to remain 98 on the school premises during the drill and remain excused from 99 the drill. 100 (h)(b)Provide timely notification to parents of threats 101 pursuant to policies adopted under subsection (7) and the 102 following unlawful acts or significant emergencies that occur on 103 school grounds, during school transportation, or during school 104 sponsored activities: 105 1.Weapons possession or use when there is intended harm 106 toward another person, hostage, and active assailant situations. 107 The active assailant situation training for each school must 108 engage the participation of the district school safety 109 specialist, threat assessment team members, faculty, staff, and 110 students and must be conducted by the law enforcement agency or 111 agencies that are designated as first responders to the schools 112 campus. 113 2.Murder, homicide, or manslaughter. 114 3.Sex offenses, including rape, sexual assault, or sexual 115 misconduct with a student by school personnel. 116 4.Natural emergencies, including hurricanes, tornadoes, 117 and severe storms. 118 5.Exposure as a result of a manmade emergency. 119 (i)(c)Require Beginning with the 2021-2022 school year, 120 each public school, including charter schools, to shall 121 implement a mobile panic alert system capable of connecting 122 diverse emergency services technologies to ensure real-time 123 coordination between multiple first responder agencies. Such 124 system, known as Alyssas Alert, must integrate with local 125 public safety answering point infrastructure to transmit 911 126 calls and mobile activations. 127 (j)(d)In addition to the requirements of paragraph (i) 128 paragraph (c), a public school district may implement additional 129 strategies or systems to ensure real-time coordination between 130 multiple first responder agencies in a school security 131 emergency. 132 (k)(e)For the 2020-2021 fiscal year and subject to the 133 appropriation of funds in the General Appropriations Act for 134 this purpose, the department shall issue a competitive 135 solicitation to contract for a mobile panic alert system that 136 may be used by each school district. The department shall 137 consult with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public 138 Safety Commission, the Department of Law Enforcement, and the 139 Division of Emergency Management in the development of the 140 competitive solicitation for the mobile panic alert system. 141 (l)(f)Establish a schedule to test the functionality and 142 coverage capacity of all emergency communication systems and 143 determine if adequate signal strength is available in all areas 144 of the schools campus. 145 (m)Require all district school drills to address the needs 146 of exceptional education students. 147 Section 2.This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.