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New York Education - Article 55 - § 2801-A School Safety PlansLegal Research Home > New York Laws > New York Education (EDN) > New York Education - Article 55 - § 2801-A School Safety Plans
Education
§ 2801-a. School safety plans. 1. The board of education or trustees,
as defined in section two of this chapter, of every school district
within the state, however created, and every board of cooperative
educational services and county vocational education and extension board
and the chancellor of the city school district of the city of New York
shall adopt and amend a comprehensive district-wide school safety plan
and building-level school safety plans regarding crisis intervention,
emergency response and management, provided that in the city school
district of the city of New York, such plans shall be adopted by the
chancellor of the city school district. Such plans shall be developed by
a district-wide school safety team and a building-level school safety
team established pursuant to subdivision four of this section and shall
be in a form developed by the commissioner in consultation with the
division of criminal justice services, the superintendent of the state
police and any other appropriate state agencies. A school district
having only one school building, shall develop a single building-level
school safety plan, which shall also fulfill all requirements for
development of a district-wide plan.
2. Such comprehensive district-wide safety plan shall be developed by
the district-wide school safety team and shall include at a minimum:
a. policies and procedures for responding to implied or direct threats
of violence by students, teachers, other school personnel as well as
visitors to the school;
b. policies and procedures for responding to acts of violence by
students, teachers, other school personnel as well as visitors to the
school, including consideration of zero-tolerance policies for school
violence;
c. appropriate prevention and intervention strategies such as:
(i) collaborative arrangements with state and local law enforcement
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;
(ii) non-violent conflict resolution training programs;
(iii) peer mediation programs and youth courts; and
(iv) extended day and other school safety programs;
d. policies and procedures for contacting appropriate law enforcement
officials in the event of a violent incident;
e. policies and procedures for contacting parents, guardians or
persons in parental relation to the students of the district in the
event of a violent incident;
f. policies and procedures relating to school building security,
including where appropriate the use of school safety officers and/or
security devices or procedures;
g. 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 district,
students and other persons deemed appropriate to receive such
information;
h. policies and procedures for annual school safety training for staff
and students;
i. protocols for responding to bomb threats, hostage-takings,
intrusions and kidnappings;
j. strategies for improving communication 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; and
k. a description of the duties of hall monitors and any other school
safety personnel, the training required of all personnel acting in a
school security capacity, and the hiring and screening process for all
personnel acting in a school security capacity.
3. A school emergency response plan, developed by the building-level
school safety team defined in subdivision four of this section, shall
include the following elements:
a. policies and procedures for the safe evacuation of students,
teachers, 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, as defined in
regulations of the commissioner developed in conjunction with the
division of criminal justice services;
b. 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, 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;
c. procedures for assuring that crisis response and law enforcement
officials have access to floor plans, blueprints, schematics or other
maps of the school interior, school grounds and road maps of the
immediate surrounding area;
d. establishment of internal and external communication systems in
emergencies;
e. definition of the chain of command in a manner consistent with the
national interagency incident management system/incident command system;
f. coordination of the school safety plan with the state-wide plan for
disaster mental health services to assure that the school has access to
federal, state and local mental health resources in the event of a
violent incident;
g. procedures for review and the conduct of drills and other exercises
to test components of the emergency response plan; and
h. 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.
4. Each district-wide school safety team shall be appointed by the
board of education, or the chancellor in the case of the city school
district of the city of New York, and shall include but not be limited
to representatives of the school board, student, teacher, administrator,
and parent organizations, school safety personnel, and other school
personnel. Each building-level school safety team shall be appointed by
the building principal, in accordance with regulations or guidelines
prescribed by the board of education, chancellor or other governing
body. Such building-level teams shall include but not be limited to
representatives of teacher, administrator, and parent organizations,
school safety personnel and other school personnel, community members,
local law enforcement officials, local ambulance or other emergency
response agencies, and any other representatives the board of education,
chancellor or other governing body deems appropriate.
5. Each safety plan shall be reviewed by the appropriate school safety
team on at least an annual basis, and updated as needed.
6. Each board of education, chancellor or other governing body shall
make each district-wide and building-level school safety plan available
for public comment at least thirty days prior to its adoption, provided
that only a summary of each building-level emergency response plan shall
be made available for public comment. Such district-wide and
building-level plans may be adopted by the school board only after at
least one public hearing that provides for the participation of school
personnel, parents, students and any other interested parties. Each
district shall file a copy of its district-wide comprehensive safety
plan with the commissioner and all amendments to such plan shall be
filed with the commissioner no later than thirty days after their
adoption. A copy of each building-level safety plan and any amendments
thereto, shall be filed with the appropriate local law enforcement
agency and with the state police within thirty days of its adoption.
Building-level emergency response plans shall be confidential and shall
not be subject to disclosure under article six of the public officers
law or any other provision of law. If the board of education, chancellor
or other governing body or chancellor fails to file such plan as
required by this section, the commissioner may, in an amount determined
by the commissioner, withhold public money from the district until the
district is in compliance.
7. The commissioner may grant a waiver of the requirements of this
section to any school district or board of cooperative educational
services for a period of up to two years from the date of enactment upon
a finding by the commissioner that such district had adopted a
comprehensive school safety plan on the effective date of this section
which is in substantial compliance with the requirements of this
section.
8. The commissioner shall annually report to the governor and the
legislature on the implementation and compliance with the provisions of
this section.
9. Whenever it shall have been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the
commissioner that a school district has failed to adopt a code of
conduct which fully satisfies the requirements of section twenty-eight
hundred one of this article, or a school safety plan which satisfies the
requirements of this section, or to faithfully and completely implement
either or both, the commissioner may, on thirty days notice to the
district, withhold from the district monies to be paid to such district
for the current school year pursuant to section thirty-six hundred
nine-a of this chapter, exclusive of monies to be paid in respect of
obligations to the retirement systems for school and district staff and
pursuant to collective bargaining agreements, or the commissioner may
direct the district to expend up to such amount upon the development and
implementation of a code of conduct and a school district safety plan as
required by such sections. Prior to such withholding or redirection, the
commissioner shall provide the district an opportunity to present
evidence of extenuating circumstances; when combined with evidence that
the district shall promptly comply within short time frames that shall
be established by the commissioner as part of an agreement between the
district and the commissioner, the commissioner may temporarily stay the
withholding or redirection of funds pending implementation of such
agreement. If the district promptly and fully complies with the
agreement and is in full compliance with this section and section
twenty-eight hundred one of this article, the commissioner shall abate
the withholding in its entirety. Any failure to meet the obligations of
the compliance agreement by the district within the time frames
established shall be considered a willful violation of a commissioner's
order by the members of the district board for purposes of subdivision
one of section three hundred six of the education law. Notwithstanding
any other law, rule or regulation, such transfer shall take effect upon
filing of a notice thereof with the director of the budget and the
chairs of the senate finance and assembly ways and means committees.
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Last modified: March 5, 2013 |
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