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Enrolled Version - Final Version Senate Bill 592 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
ENROLLED

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR


Senate Bill No. 592

(Senators Palumbo, Stollings, Plymale, Unger, Browning, Minard, Foster, Wells, Fanning, Jenkins, Tucker and Kessler (Acting President), original sponsors)

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[Passed March 11, 2011; in effect ninety days from passage.]

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AN ACT to amend and reenact §18-9F-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-9F-9; and to amend and reenact §18-28- 2 of said code, all relating to requiring crisis response plans for all schools; updating legislative findings and intent; requiring the state board in conjunction with the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management promulgate legislative rule by certain date for school specific crisis response plan establishment, minimum content, safeguards, updating, filing, informing and training school personnel, release of information to public; procedures for non public schools; authorizing emergency rule; considerations in developing rule; minimum contents of rule; requiring plan filing with county boards and certain disposition including public inspection of redacted copies and notice to parents; and requiring private, parochial and religious schools to establish, file and update school specific crisis response plan that complies with certain rule requirements.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-9F-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-9F-9; and that §18-28-2 of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9F. SCHOOL ACCESS SAFETY AND CRISIS RESPONSE ACT.
§18-9F-1. Legislative findings and intent.
(a) The Legislature finds that:
(1) Establishing and maintaining safe and secure schools is critical to fostering a healthy learning environment and maximizing student achievement;
(2) All school facilities in the state should be designed, constructed, furnished and maintained in a manner that enhances a healthy learning environment and provides necessary safeguards for the health, safety and security of persons who enter and use the facilities;
(3) Adequate safeguards for the ingress to and egress from school facilities of pupils, school employees, parents, visitors and emergency personnel are critical to the overall safety of the public schools in this state;
(4) Safety upgrades to the means of ingress to and egress from school facilities for pupils, school employees, parents, visitors and emergency personnel must be part of a comprehensive analysis of overall school safety issues that takes into consideration the input of local law-enforcement agencies, local emergency services agencies, community leaders, parents, pupils, teachers, administrators and other school employees interested in the prevention of school crime and violence;
(5) In order to help ensure safety in all schools within the state and to be prepared to adequately respond to potential crises, including any traumatic event or emergency condition that creates distress, hardship, fear or grief, each school must have an up-to- date comprehensive crisis response plan as detailed in section nine of this article.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to empower the School Building Authority to facilitate and provide state funds for the design, construction, renovation, repair and upgrading of facilities so as to enhance school access safety and provide secure ingress to and egress from school facilities to pupils, school employees, parents, visitors and emergency personnel.
§18-9F-9. Crisis Response Plan.
(a) The state board in conjunction with the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management shall promulgate by December 31, 2011, a legislative rule in accordance with article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, and if necessary may promulgate an emergency rule in accordance with said article, for the establishment of an up-to-date, school specific crisis response plan at every school in the state. In developing the rule, the state board shall consider plans currently being developed as part of the safe schools initiative currently underway by the School Building Authority and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. In addition, those portions of a school's access safety plan created pursuant to section three of this article may be used as a portion of the school's school specific crisis response plan if there are any overlapping requirements. The rule shall provide for at least the following:
(1) A model school crisis response plan for use by each school in the state, including a uniform template which shall be used by each school to file the plan, including at least the following information, in a secure electronic system identified by the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management:
(A) The school employee in charge during a crisis and a designated substitute;
(B) A communication plan to be used during a crisis;
(C) Protocols for responding to immediate physical harm of students, faculty or staff and to traumatic events, including the period after the events have concluded;
(D) Disaster and emergency procedures to respond to earthquakes, fire, flood, other natural disasters, explosions or other events or conditions in which death or serious injury is likely;
(E) Crisis procedures for safe entrance to and exit from the school by students, parents, and employees, including an evacuation and lock down plan; and
(F) Policies and procedures for enforcing school discipline and maintaining a safe and orderly environment during the crisis.
(2) A requirement that each school's school specific crisis response plan shall be in place and filed with that school's county board, and included in a secure electronic system identified by the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, no later than August 1, 2013, or soon after completion by the school, whichever occurs first;
(3) The necessary safeguards to protect information contained in each school specific crisis response plan that may be considered protected critical infrastructure information, law enforcement sensitive information or for official use only. These safeguards must have the approval the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. County boards shall provide the same necessary safeguards for the information in the plan;
(4) The annual review and necessary update of the model plan and uniform template by state board in conjunction with the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management by December 31 of each year after 2011;
(5) The development by each school of a school specific crisis response plan by using the state board's model plan as an example and with consultation from local social services agencies, local first response agencies including police, fire, emergency medical services (EMS), emergency management and any other local entities that the school's crisis response planning team determines should be consulted;
(6) Procedures for the annual review and update if necessary by each school of its school specific crisis response planning plan. Each school shall file either an updated crisis response plan or a memorandum stating that no update to the crisis response plan was necessary with its county board and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management no later than August 1 of each year after 2013.
(7) Procedures for each school within the state to form a crisis response planning team, which team may consist of the school's Local School Improvement Council or a separate team consisting of the principal, two teachers, one service person and two parents of children attending the school. In addition the school may include on the team one member of the county board, a school counselor, a member from local law-enforcement authorities, the local county emergency services director and one student in grade ten or higher if the school has those grades;
(8) Procedures for informing and training school personnel on any actions required of them to effectuate the school's school specific crisis response plan;
(9) A model template for redacted copies of the school crisis response plan for the public inspection and for the release and notice to parents of information related to the plan; and
(10) Procedures for non public schools to establish, file and update school crisis response plans consistent with subdivision (1) subsection (a) of this section.
(b) The county board shall keep the current crisis response plan of each school in the county on file and, unless otherwise provided for, provide a copy of each school's crisis response plan to each local emergency response agency that has a role in the plan. Local emergency response agencies that maintain a copy of the plan shall provide the necessary safeguards for the information in the plan established pursuant to the state board rule promulgated pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. Upon request, a redacted copy of a school crisis response plan shall be made available for inspection by the public with any information removed that is necessary for compliance with the necessary safeguards. Starting with the 2012-2013 school year, each school shall annually send notice home to all parents and guardians of students at the school alerting the parents and guardians to the existence of the crisis response plan and the ability to review a redacted copy at the offices of the county board.
ARTICLE 28. PRIVATE, PAROCHIAL OR CHURCH SCHOOLS OR SCHOOLS OF A RELIGIOUS ORDER.

§18-28-2. Attendance; health and safety regulations.
The following is applicable to private, parochial or church schools or schools of a religious order:
(a) Each school shall observe a minimum instructional term of one hundred eighty days with an average of five hours of instruction per day;
(b) Each school shall make and maintain annual attendance and disease immunization records for each pupil enrolled and regularly attending classes. The attendance records shall be made available to the parents or legal guardians;
(c) Upon the request of the county superintendent, a school (or a parents organization composed of the parents or guardians of children enrolled in the school) shall furnish to the county board a list of the names and addresses of all children enrolled in the school between the ages of seven and sixteen years;
(d) Attendance by a child at any school which complies with this article satisfies the requirements of compulsory school attendance;
(e) Each school is subject to reasonable fire, health and safety inspections by state, county and municipal authorities as required by law, and is required to comply with the West Virginia school bus safety regulations; and
(f) Each school shall establish, file and update a school specific crisis response plan which complies with the requirements established for it by the state board and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management pursuant to section nine, article nine-f of this chapter.
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