2024                      5681

Non-Instructional/Business Operations

 

SUBJECT:    SCHOOL SAFETY PLANS

The District considers the safety of its students and staff to be of the utmost importance and is keenly aware of the evolving nature of threats to schools. As such, it will address those threats accordingly through appropriate emergency response planning. The District-wide school safety plan and the building-level emergency response plan(s) will be designed to prevent or minimize the effects of violent incidents, declared state disaster emergency involving a communicable disease or local public health emergency declaration and other emergencies and to facilitate the coordination of schools and the District with local and county resources in the event of these incidents or emergencies. These plans will be reviewed and updated by the appropriate team on at least an annual basis and adopted by the Board by September 1 of each school year.

 

The Board will make the District-wide school safety plan available for public comment at least 30 days prior to its adoption. The District-wide school safety plan may only be adopted by the Board after at least one public hearing that provides for the participation of school personnel, parents, students, and any other interested parties. The District-wide school safety plan and any amendments must be submitted to the Commissioner, in a manner prescribed by the Commissioner, within 30 days of adoption, but no later than October 1 of each school year.

 

Building-level emergency response plan(s) and any amendments must be submitted to the appropriate local law enforcement agency and the state police within 30 days of adoption, but no later than October 1 of each school year. Building-level emergency response plan(s) will be kept confidential and are not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) or any other provision of law.

 

District-Wide School Safety Plan

 

District-wide school safety plan means a comprehensive, multi-hazard school safety plan that covers all school buildings of the District, addresses crisis intervention, emergency response and management, and the provision of remote instruction during an emergency school closure, at the District level, and has the contents as prescribed in Education Law and Commissioner’s regulations.

The District-wide school safety plan will be developed by the District-wide school safety team appointed by the Board. The District-wide school safety team will include, but not be limited to, representatives of the Board, teacher, administrator, and parent organizations, school safety personnel, and other school personnel including bus drivers and monitors. The District-wide school safety team will consider, as part of their review of the comprehensive District-wide school safety plan, the installation of a panic alarm system.

 

The District-wide school safety plan will include, but not be limited to:

1. Policies and procedures for responding to implied or direct threats of violence by students, teachers, other school personnel including bus drivers and monitors, and visitors to the school, including threats by students against themselves, which includes suicide;
2. Policies and procedures for responding to acts of violence by students, teachers, other school personnel, and visitors to the school, including consideration of zero-tolerance policies for school violence;
3. Appropriate prevention and intervention strategies, such as:
   1. Collaborative arrangements with state and local law enforcement officials, designed to ensure that school safety officers and other security personnel including bus drivers and monitors, are adequately trained, including being trained to de-escalate potentially violent situations, and are effectively and fairly recruited;
   2.  Nonviolent conflict resolution training programs;
   3. Peer mediation programs and youth courts; and
   4.  Extended day and other school safety programs;
4. Policies and procedures for contacting appropriate law enforcement officials in the event of a violent incident;
5. A description of the arrangements for obtaining assistance during emergencies from emergency services organizations and local governmental agencies;
6. Procedures for obtaining advice and assistance from local government officials, including the county or city officials responsible for implementation of Executive Law Article 2-B State and Local Natural and Man-Made Disaster Preparedness;
7. The identification of District resources which may be available for use during an emergency;
8. A description of procedures to coordinate the use of District resources and manpower during emergencies, including identification of the officials authorized to make decisions and of the staff members assigned to provide assistance during emergencies;
9. Policies and procedures for contacting parents, guardians, or persons in parental relation to District students in the event of a violent incident or an early dismissal or emergency school closure; 
10. Policies and procedures for contacting parents, guardians, or persons in parental relation to an individual District student in the event of an implied or direct threat of violence by the student against themselves, which includes suicide;
11. Policies and procedures relating to school building security, including, where appropriate:  the use of school safety officers, school security officers, and/or school resource officers; and security devices or procedures;
12. 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 including bus drivers and monitors, parents, and other persons in parental relation to students of the District or Board, students, and other persons deemed appropriate to receive the information;
13. Policies and procedures for annual multi-hazard school safety training for staff and students, provided that the District must certify to the Commissioner that all staff have undergone annual training by September 15 on the building-level emergency response plan which must include components on violence prevention and mental health, provided further that new employees hired after the start of the school year will receive training within 30 days of hire or as part of the District’s existing new hire training program, whichever is sooner;
14. Procedures for the review and conduct of drills and other exercises to test components of the emergency response plan, including the use of tabletop exercises, in coordination with local and county emergency responders and preparedness officials;
15. The identification of appropriate responses to emergencies, including protocols for responding to bomb threats, hostage-takings, intrusions, and kidnappings;
16. 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;
17. 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;
18. A system for informing all educational agencies within the District of a disaster or emergency school closure; and
19. The designation of the Superintendent or designee, as the District Chief Emergency Officer whose duties will include, but not be limited to:

    1. Coordinating the communication between school staff, law enforcement, and other first responders;
    2. Leading the efforts of the District-wide school safety team in the completion and yearly update of the District-wide school safety plan and the coordination of the District-wide school safety plan with the building-level emergency response plan(s);
    3. Ensuring staff understanding of the District-wide school safety plan;
    4. Ensuring the completion and yearly update of building-level emergency response plans for each school building;
    5.  Assisting in the selection of security related technology and development of procedures for the use of the technology;
    6. Coordinating appropriate safety, security, and emergency training for District and school staff, including required training in the emergency response plan;
    7. Ensuring the conduct of required evacuation and lock-down drills in all District buildings as required by law; and
    8. Ensuring the completion and yearly update of building-level emergency response plan(s) by the dates designated by the Commissioner; 

20. Protocols for responding to a declared state disaster emergency involving a communicable disease that are substantially consistent with the provisions in Labor Law Section 27-c; and
21. An emergency remote instruction plan.

 

Building-Level Emergency Response Plan

Building-level emergency response plan means a building-specific school emergency response plan that addresses crisis intervention, emergency response and management at the building level and has the contents as prescribed in Education Law and Commissioner’s regulations. As part of this plan, the District will define the chain of command in a manner consistent with the National Incident Management System (NIMS)/Incident Command System (ICS).

 

Building-level emergency response plan(s) will be developed by the building-level emergency response team. The building-level emergency response team is a building-specific team appointed by the building principal, in accordance with regulations or guidelines prescribed by the Board. The building-level emergency response team will include, but not be limited to, representatives of teacher, administrator, and parent organizations, school safety personnel and other school personnel, including bus drivers and monitors, community members, local law enforcement officials, local ambulance, fire officials, or other emergency response agencies, and any other representatives the Board deems appropriate.

 

Classroom door vision panels will not be covered except as outlined in the building-level emergency response plan.

 

 

• Education Law § 2801-a
• Labor Law § 27-c
• 8 NYCRR § 155.17

 

 

Adopted:  8/24/11

Revised:  10/11/16; 9/22/20; 12/14/21; 10/22/24