§ 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 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 § 16-21-23.1 that include consistent, plain language and terminology;
(2) Formalized collaborative arrangements with state and local law enforcement and firefighter
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 swatting, bomb threats,
hostage-takings, intrusions, and kidnappings that include consistent, plain language
and terminology that is recommended by the model plan pursuant to § 16-21-23.1. For purposes of this chapter, "swattingâ€� means the action or practice of making
a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of law
enforcement personnel to a particular address;
(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 § 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 § 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 § 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 § 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 or similar emergency 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;
(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; and
(17) Procedures for students and school staff to both prepare for and to participate in
emergency drills.
(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 § 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.