(a) Each school district and charter school shall require its employees to receive 12.5 hours of training every 3 years consisting of all of the following:

• (1) Three hours of a child abuse and child safety awareness, prevention, detection, and reporting training program established under § 4163(b)(1) of this title.
• (2) Three hours of a school bullying prevention and criminal youth gang detection training program established under § 4164(a) of this title.
• (3) Four and one-half hours of a suicide prevention training program established under § 4165(a) of this title, with each school district and charter school employee receiving 90 minutes of such training each year.
• (4) Two hours of additional, nonacademic training programs that are evidence-based, whenever available, and are related to a training subject required by this subchapter, as selected by the school district or charter school.

(a) Suicide prevention training program. — The Department of Health and Social Services, the Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families, and the Department of Education shall identify and maintain a suicide prevention training program for school district and charter school employees that is evidence-based, whenever available.

(b) Suicide prevention policy. — Each school district and charter school shall establish a policy which shall require, at a minimum, all of the following:

• (1) Recognition of the serious problem of youth suicide.

• (2) The development of a suicide prevention program.

• (3) That each school within a school district and each charter school establish a committee that is responsible for coordinating the suicide prevention program within that school.

• (4) A statement prohibiting retaliation against a school district or charter school employee, a school district or charter school volunteer, or student for reporting the warning signs of suicide.

• (5) That a procedure be established for the confidential and anonymous reporting of the warning signs of suicide.

• (6) That a procedure be established for communication between school staff members and medical professionals who are involved in treating students for suicide issues.

(c) Accountability. — Each school district and charter school shall adopt the policy required by subsection (b) of this section and shall submit a copy to the Department of Education by September 1, 2016, and by September 1 of a newly approved charter school’s first year of operation. Each school district and charter school shall provide any changes to the policy to the Department within 60 calendar days.

(d) Dissemination of policy. — Each school district and charter school shall ensure that the policy adopted under this section appears in the student and staff handbook and on its website.

(e) Immunity. — A school district or charter school employee, school district or charter school volunteer, or student is individually immune from a cause of action for damages arising from reporting warning signs of suicide to the appropriate person using the procedures specified in the school district’s or charter school’s suicide prevention policy, but there is no such immunity if the act of reporting constituted gross negligence or reckless, wilful, or intentional conduct.