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2006 SESSION
066630740Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 22.1-279.8 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 22.1-279.8. School safety audits and school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans required.
A. For the purposes of this section, unless the context requires otherwise:
"School crisis, and emergency management,
and medical emergency response 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,
including cardiac arrest and other life-threatening 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; incidents involving acts of terrorism; 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 shall include recommendations for structural adjustments, changes in school safety procedures, and revisions to the school board's standards for student conduct.
B. The Virginia Center for School Safety shall develop a list of items to be reviewed and evaluated in the school safety audits required by this section. Such items shall include those incidents reported to school authorities pursuant to § 22.1-279.3:1.
The Virginia Center for School Safety shall prescribe a standardized report format for school safety audits, additional reporting criteria, and procedures for report submission, which may include instructions for electronic submission.
Each local school board shall require all schools under its supervisory control to annually conduct school safety audits as defined in this section and consistent with such list.
The results of such school safety audits shall be made public within 90 days of completion. The local school board shall retain authority to withhold or limit the release of any security plans and specific vulnerability assessment components as provided in subdivision 7 of § 2.2-3705.2. Each school shall maintain a copy of the school safety audit, which may exclude such security plans and vulnerability assessment components, within the office of the school principal and shall make a copy of such report available for review upon written request.
Each school shall submit a copy of its school safety audit to the relevant school division superintendent. The division superintendent shall collate and submit all such school safety audits, in the prescribed format and manner of submission, to the Virginia Center for School Safety.
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, and medical emergency response plan, consistent with the
definition provided in this section. The Department of Education and the
Virginia Center for School Safety shall (i) provide technical assistance
to the school divisions of the Commonwealth in the development of the school
crisis, and emergency management, and medical emergency
response plans and (ii) refer to the scientific statements prepared by
the American Heart Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and various
other national emergency response organizations, that describe the components
of a medical emergency response plan, the training of school personnel and
students to respond to a life-threatening emergency, and the equipment required
for this emergency response.
Upon consultation with local school boards, 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, and medical emergency response plan for the purpose of
assisting the public schools in Virginia in developing viable, effective crisis,
and emergency management, and medical emergency response plans.
Such model shall set forth recommended effective procedures and means by which
parents can contact the relevant school or school division regarding the
location and safety of their school children and by which school officials may
contact parents, with parental approval, during a critical event or emergency.