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2001 SESSION


CHAPTER 841
An Act to amend and reenact §§ 22.1-278.1, 23-9.6:1, and 44-146.18 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-137.1, relating to school and institutional crisis and emergency management plans.
[S 1022]
Approved April 5, 2001

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 22.1-278.1, 23-9.6:1, and 44-146.18 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted and that the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 22.1-137.1 as follows:

§ 22.1-137.1. Tornado drills.

In every public school there shall be at least one tornado drill every school year, in order that students may be thoroughly practiced in such drills.

§ 22.1-278.1. School safety audits and school crisis and emergency management plans required.

A. For the purposes of this section, unless the context requires otherwise:

"School crisis and emergency management plan" means the essential procedures, operations, and assignments required to prevent, manage, and respond to a critical event or emergency, including natural disasters involving fire, flood, tornadoes, or other severe weather; loss or disruption of power, water, communications or shelter; bus or other accidents; medical emergencies; student or staff member deaths; explosions; bomb threats; gun, knife or other weapons threats; spills or exposures to hazardous substances; the presence of unauthorized persons or trespassers; the loss, disappearance or kidnapping of a student; hostage situations; violence on school property or at school activities; and other incidents posing a serious threat of harm to students, personnel, or facilities.

"School safety audit" means a written assessment of the safety conditions in each public school to (i) identify and, if necessary, develop solutions for physical safety concerns, including building security issues and (ii) identify and evaluate any patterns of student safety concerns occurring on school property or at school-sponsored events. Solutions and responses may include recommendations for structural adjustments, changes in school safety procedures, and revisions to the school board's standards for student conduct.

B. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall develop a list of items to be reviewed and evaluated in the school safety audits required by this section. Each local school board shall require all schools under its supervisory control to conduct school safety audits as defined in this section and consistent with such list. Each school shall maintain a copy of the school safety audit within the office of the school principal and shall make a copy of such report available for review upon written request.

C. The school board may establish a school safety audit committee to consist of representatives of parents, teachers, local law-enforcement agencies, judicial and public safety personnel, and the community-at-large. The school safety audit committee shall evaluate, in accordance with the directions of the local school board, the safety of each school and submit a plan for improving school safety at a public meeting of the local school board.

D. Each school board shall ensure that every school that it supervises shall develop a written school crisis and emergency management plan, consistent with the definition provided in this section. The Department of Education shall provide technical assistance to the school divisions of the Commonwealth in the development of the school crisis and emergency management plans.

Upon consultation with local school boards, and division superintendents, the Virginia Center for School Safety, and the Coordinator of Emergency Management, the Board of Education shall develop, and may revise as it deems necessary, a model school crisis and emergency management plan for the purpose of assisting the public schools in Virginia in developing viable, effective crisis and emergency management plans.

§ 23-9.6:1. Duties of Council generally.

In addition to such other duties as may be prescribed elsewhere, the State Council of Higher Education shall have the duty, responsibility and authority:

1. To prepare plans under which the several state-supported institutions of higher education of Virginia shall constitute a coordinating system. In developing such plans, the Council shall consider the future needs for higher education in Virginia at both the undergraduate and the graduate levels, as well as the mission, programs, facilities and location of each of the existing institutions of higher education, and such other matters as the Council deems appropriate. The Council shall revise such plans biennially in each odd-numbered year and shall submit within the time prescribed by § 2.1-394 the plans as revised to the Governor and the General Assembly together with such recommendations as are necessary for their implementation.

2. To review and approve or disapprove any proposed change in the statement of mission of any presently existing public institution of higher education and to define the mission of all public institutions of higher education created after the effective date of this provision. The Council shall, within the time prescribed in subdivision 1 of this section, make a report to the Governor and the General Assembly with respect to its actions hereunder. No such actions shall become effective until thirty days after adjournment of the session of the General Assembly next following the filing of such a report. Nothing contained in this provision shall be construed to authorize the Council to modify any mission statement adopted by the General Assembly, nor to empower the Council to affect, either directly or indirectly, the selection of faculty or the standards and criteria for admission of any public institution, whether related to academic standards, residence or other criteria; it being the intention of this section that faculty selection and student admission policies shall remain a function of the individual institutions.

3. To study any proposed escalation of any public institution to a degree-granting level higher than that level to which it is presently restricted and to submit a report and recommendation to the Governor and the General Assembly relating to the proposal. The study shall include the need for and benefits or detriments to be derived from the escalation. No such institution shall implement any such proposed escalation until the Council's report and recommendation have been submitted to the General Assembly and the General Assembly approves the institution's proposal.

4. To review and approve or disapprove all enrollment projections proposed by each public institution of higher education. The Council's projections shall be in numerical terms by level of enrollment and shall be used for budgetary and fiscal planning purposes only. The student admissions policies for the institutions and their specific programs shall remain the sole responsibility of the individual boards of visitors.

5. To review and approve or disapprove all new academic programs which any public institution of higher education proposes. As used herein, "academic programs" include both undergraduate and graduate programs.

6. To review and require the discontinuance of any academic program which is presently offered by any public institution of higher education when the Council determines that such academic program is (i) nonproductive in terms of the number of degrees granted, the number of students served by the program, the program's effectiveness, and budgetary considerations, or (ii) supported by state funds and is unnecessarily duplicative of academic programs offered at other public institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth. As used herein, "academic programs" includes both undergraduate and graduate programs. The Council shall make a report to the Governor and the General Assembly with respect to the discontinuance of any academic program. No such discontinuance shall become effective until thirty days after the adjournment of the session of the General Assembly next following the filing of such report.

7. To review and approve or disapprove the creation and establishment of any department, school, college, branch, division or extension of any public institution of higher education which such institution proposes to create and establish. This duty and responsibility shall be applicable to the proposed creation and establishment of departments, schools, colleges, branches, divisions and extensions, whether located on or off the main campus of the institution in question. If any organizational change is determined by the Council to be proposed solely for the purpose of internal management and the institution's curricular offerings remain constant, the Council shall approve the proposed change. Nothing in this provision shall be construed to authorize the Council to disapprove the creation and establishment of any department, school, college, branch, division or extension of any institution which has been created and established by the General Assembly.

8. To develop a uniform, comprehensive data information system designed to gather all information necessary to the performance of the Council's duties. The system shall include information on admissions, enrollments, self-identified students with documented disabilities, personnel, programs, financing, space inventory, facilities and such other areas as the Council deems appropriate.

9. To develop in cooperation with institutions of higher education guidelines for the assessment of student achievement. An institution shall use an approved program which complies with the guidelines of the Council and is consistent with the institution's mission and educational objectives in the development of such assessment. The Council shall report the institutions' assessments of student achievement in the biennial revisions to the state's master plan for higher education.

10. To develop in cooperation with the appropriate state financial and accounting officials and to establish uniform standards and systems of accounting, record keeping and statistical reporting for the public institutions of higher education.

11. To review biennially and approve or disapprove all changes in the inventory of educational and general space which any public institution of higher education may propose, and to make a report to the Governor and the General Assembly with respect thereto. No such change shall be made until thirty days after the adjournment of the session of the General Assembly next following the filing of such report.

12. To visit and study the operations of each of the public institutions of higher education at such times as the Council shall deem appropriate and to conduct such other studies in the field of higher education as the Council deems appropriate or as may be requested by the Governor or the General Assembly.

13. To provide advisory services to private, accredited and nonprofit institutions of higher education, whose primary purpose is to provide collegiate or graduate education and not to provide religious training or theological education, on academic, administrative, financial and space utilization matters. The Council may also review and advise on joint activities, including contracts for services between such public and private institutions of higher education or between such private institutions and any agency of the Commonwealth or political subdivision thereof.

14. To adopt such rules and regulations as the Council believes necessary to implement all of the Council's duties and responsibilities as set forth in this Code. The various public institutions of higher education shall comply with such rules and regulations.

15. To issue guidelines consistent with the provisions of the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g requiring public institutions of higher education to release a student's academic and disciplinary record to a student's parent.

16. To develop and revise, as it deems necessary, in consultation with the Coordinator of Emergency Management, a model institutional crisis and emergency management plan for the purpose of assisting public and private two-year and four-year institutions of higher education in establishing, operating, and maintaining emergency services and disaster preparedness activities.

17. To require that each institution of higher education formed, chartered, or established in the Commonwealth after July 1, 1980, shall ensure the preservation of student transcripts in the event of institutional closure or revocation of approval to operate in the Commonwealth of Virginia. An institution may provide for the preservation of student transcripts by binding agreement with another institution of higher education with which it is not corporately connected or in such other way as the Council may authorize by regulation. In the event an institution closes, or has its approval to operate in the Commonwealth revoked, the Council, through its Director, may take such action as is necessary to secure and preserve the student transcripts until such time as an appropriate institution accepts all or some of the transcripts. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to interfere with the right of a student to his own transcripts; nor shall this section authorize disclosure of student records except as may otherwise be authorized by law.

In carrying out its duties and responsibilities, the Council, insofar as practicable, shall preserve the individuality, traditions and sense of responsibility of the respective institutions. The Council, insofar as practicable, shall seek the assistance and advice of the respective institutions in fulfilling all of its duties and responsibilities.

§ 44-146.18. Department of Emergency Services continued as Department of Emergency Management; administration and operational control; coordinator and other personnel; powers and duties.

(a) The State Office of Emergency Services is continued and shall hereafter be known as the Department of Emergency Management. Wherever the words "State Department of Emergency Services" are used in any law of this Commonwealth, they shall mean the Department of Emergency Management. During a declared emergency this Department shall revert to the operational control of the Governor. The Department shall have a coordinator who shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Governor and also serve as State Emergency Planning Director. The Department shall employ the professional, technical, secretarial, and clerical employees necessary for the performance of its functions.

(b) The State Department of Emergency Management shall in the administration of emergency services and disaster preparedness programs:

(1) Promulgate plans and programs which are conducive to adequate disaster mitigation preparedness, response and recovery programs;

(2) Prepare and maintain a State Emergency Operations Plan for disaster response and recovery operations that assigns primary and support responsibilities for basic emergency services functions to state agencies, organizations and personnel as appropriate;

(3) Coordinate and administer disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery plans and programs with the proponent federal, state and local government agencies and related groups;

(4) Provide guidance and assistance to state agencies and units of local government in developing and maintaining emergency management programs, plans and systems;

(5) Make necessary recommendations to agencies of the federal, state, or local governments on preventive and preparedness measures designed to eliminate or reduce disasters and their impact;

(6) Determine requirements of the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions for those necessities needed in the event of a declared emergency which are not otherwise readily available;

(7) Assist state agencies and political subdivisions in establishing and operating training programs and programs of public information and education regarding emergency services and disaster preparedness activities;

(8) Consult with the Board of Education regarding the development and revision of a model school crisis and emergency management plan for the purpose of assisting public schools in establishing, operating, and maintaining emergency services and disaster preparedness activities;

(9) Consult with the State Council of Higher Education in the development and revision of a model institutional crisis and emergency management plan for the purpose of assisting public and private two-year and four-year institutions of higher education in establishing, operating, and maintaining emergency services and disaster preparedness activities;

(8) (10) Develop standards, provide guidance and encourage the maintenance of local and state agency emergency operations plans;

(9) (11) Prepare, maintain, coordinate or implement emergency resource management plans and programs with federal, state and local government agencies and related groups, and make such surveys of industries, resources, and facilities within the Commonwealth, both public and private, as are necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter;

(10) (12) Coordinate with the federal government and any public or private agency or entity in achieving any purpose of this chapter and in implementing programs for disaster prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery; and

(11) (13) Establish guidelines pursuant to § 44-146.28, and administer payments to eligible applicants as authorized by the Governor.

(c) The State Department of Emergency Management shall during a period of declared emergency be responsible for:

(1) The receipt, evaluation, and dissemination of intelligence pertaining to an impending or actual disaster;

(2) Providing facilities from which state agencies and supporting organizations may conduct emergency operations;

(3) Providing an adequate communications and warning system capable of notifying all political subdivisions in the Commonwealth of an impending disaster within a reasonable time;

(4) Establishing and maintaining liaison with affected political subdivisions;

(5) Determining requirements for disaster relief and recovery assistance;

(6) Coordinating disaster response actions of federal, state and volunteer relief agencies;

(7) Coordinating and providing guidance and assistance to affected political subdivisions to ensure orderly and timely response to and recovery from disaster effects.

(d) The State Department of Emergency Management shall be provided the necessary facilities and equipment needed to perform its normal day-to-day activities and coordinate disaster-related activities of the various federal, state, and other agencies during a state of emergency declaration by the Governor or following a major disaster declaration by the President.

(e) The State Department of Emergency Management is authorized to enter into all contracts and agreements necessary or incidental to performance of any of its duties stated in this section or otherwise assigned to it by law, including contracts with the United States, other states, agencies and government subdivisions of the Commonwealth, and other appropriate public and private entities.