FAQ regarding adoption of emergency management plans.

(7)

• (a) By November 1, 2019, and November 1 of each year thereafter, a minimum of one (1) hour of training on how to respond to an active shooter situation shall be required for all school district employees with job duties requiring direct contact with students. The training shall be provided either in person, by live streaming, or via a video recording prepared by the Kentucky Department of Education in collaboration with the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council and the Center for School Safety and may be included in the four (4) days of professional development under KRS 158.070.
• (b) When a staff member subject to the training requirements of this subsection is initially hired after the training has been provided for the school year, the local district shall provide materials on how to respond to an active shooter situation.
• (c) The requirements of this subsection shall also apply to public charter schools as a health and safety requirement under KRS 160.1592(1).

(1) As used in this section:

• (a) “Emergency management response plan” or “emergency plan” means a written document to prevent, mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies; and
• (b) “First responders” means local fire, police, and emergency medical personnel.

(2)

• (a) Each local board of education shall require the school council or, if none exists, the principal in each school building in its jurisdiction to adopt an emergency plan to include procedures to be followed in case of fire, severe weather, or earthquake, or if a building lockdown as defined in KRS 158.164 is required.
• (b) Following adoption, the emergency plan, along with a diagram of the facility, shall be provided to appropriate first responders.
• (c) The emergency plan shall be reviewed following the end of each school year by the school council, the principal, and first responders and shall be revised as needed.
• (d) The principal shall discuss the emergency plan with all school staff prior to the first instructional day of each school year and shall document the time and date of any discussion.
• (e) The emergency plan and diagram of the facility shall be excluded from the application of KRS 61.870 to 61.884.

(3) Each local board of education shall require the school council or, if none exists, the principal in each school building to:

• (a) Establish primary and secondary evacuation routes for all rooms located within the school and shall post the routes in each room by any doorway used for evacuation;
• (b) Identify the best available severe weather safe zones, in consultation with local and state safety officials and informed by guiding principles set forth by the National Weather Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and post the location of safe zones in each room of the school;
• (c) Develop practices for students to follow during an earthquake; and
• (d) Develop and adhere to practices to control the access to each school building. Practices shall include but not be limited to:
• 1. Controlling outside access to exterior doors during the school day;
• 2. Controlling the main entrance of the school with electronically locking doors, a camera, and an intercom system;
• 3. Controlling access to individual classrooms;
• 4. Requiring classroom doors to be equipped with hardware that allows the door to be locked from the outside but opened from the inside;
• 5. Requiring classroom doors to remain closed and locked during instructional time, except:
• a. In instances in which only one (1) student and one (1) adult are in the classroom; or
• b. When approved in writing by the state school security marshal;
• 6. Requiring classroom doors with windows to be equipped with material to quickly cover the window during a building lockdown;
• 7. Requiring all visitors to report to the front office of the building, provide valid identification, and state the purpose of the visit; and
• 8. Providing a visitor’s badge to be visibly displayed on a visitor’s outer garment.

(4) All schools shall be in compliance with the provisions of subsection (3)(d) of this section as soon as practicable but no later than July 1, 2022.

(5) Each local board of education shall require the principal in each public school building in its jurisdiction to conduct, at a minimum, emergency response drills to include one (1) severe weather drill, one (1) earthquake drill, and one (1) lockdown drill within the first thirty (30) instructional days of each school year and again during the month of January. Required fire drills shall be conducted according to administrative regulations promulgated by the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction. Whenever possible, first responders shall be invited to observe emergency response drills.

(6) No later than November 1 of each school year, a local district superintendent shall send verification to the Kentucky Department of Education that all schools within the district are in compliance with the requirements of this section.

(7) A district with a school not in compliance with the requirements of subsection (3)(d) of this section by July 1, 2022, shall not be eligible for approval by the Kentucky Department of Education for new building construction or expansion in the 2022-2023 school year and any subsequent year without verification of compliance, except for facility improvements that specifically address school safety and security issues required by this section or in essential cases for the protection of student or staff health and safety.

(1) Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, each local school district superintendent shall appoint a district-level school administrator to serve as the district’s school safety coordinator and primary point of contact for public school safety and security functions.

(2) The district’s school safety coordinator shall:

• (a) Complete the school safety coordinator training program developed by the Center for School Safety within six (6) months of his or her date of appointment;
• (b) Designate a school safety and security threat assessment team at each school of the district consisting of two (2) or more staff members in accordance with policies and procedures adopted by the local board of education to identify and respond to students exhibiting behavior that indicates a potential threat to school safety or security. Members of a threat assessment team may include school administrators, school counselors, school resource officers, school-based mental health services providers, teachers, and other school personnel;
• (c) Provide training to school principals within the district on procedures for completion of the school security risk assessment required pursuant to KRS 158.4410;
• (d) Review all school security risk assessments completed within the district and prescribe recommendations as needed in consultation with the state school security marshal;
• (e) Advise the local school district superintendent by July 1, 2021, and annually thereafter of completion of required security risk assessments;
• (f) Formulate recommended policies and procedures, which shall be excluded from the application of KRS 61.870 to 61.884, for an all-hazards approach including conducting emergency response drills for hostage, active shooter, and building lockdown situations in consultation and coordination with appropriate public safety agencies to include but not be limited to fire, police, and emergency medical services for review and adoption as part of the school emergency plan required by KRS 158.162. The recommended policies shall encourage the involvement of students, as appropriate, in the development of the school’s emergency plan; and
• (g) Ensure each school campus is toured at least once per school year, in consultation and coordination with appropriate public safety agencies, to review policies and procedures and provide recommendations related to school safety and security.

(3) The school district, school safety coordinator, and any school employees participating in the activities of a school safety and security threat assessment team, acting in good faith upon reasonable cause in the identification of students pursuant to subsection (2)(b) of this section shall be immune from any civil or criminal liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed from:

• (a) Identifying the student and implementing a response pursuant to policies and procedures adopted under subsection (2)(b) of this section; or
• (b) Participating in any judicial proceeding that results from the identification.

(1) The General Assembly hereby authorizes the establishment of the Center for School Safety. The center’s mission shall be to serve as the central point for data analysis; research; dissemination of information about successful school safety and school security programs, best practices, training Standard, research results, and new programs; and, in collaboration with the Department of Education and others, to provide technical assistance for safe schools.

(2) To fulfill its mission, the Center for School Safety shall:

• (j) Develop and implement a school safety coordinator training program based on national and state best practices in collaboration with the Kentucky Department of Education for school safety coordinators appointed pursuant to KRS 158.4412. The training shall be approved by the board of directors of the Center for School Safety and include instruction on at least the following:
• 1. Policies and procedures for conducting emergency response drills using an all-hazards approach including hostage and active shooter situations;
• 2. Identification and response to threats to school safety and security; and
• 3. Preparing for, conducting, and reviewing school security risk assessments in accordance with KRS 158.4410; and
• (k) Award a school safety coordinator certificate of completion to a school safety coordinator upon satisfactory completion of the training program.

(2) Each local board of education shall adopt a policy for implementing school-based decision making in the district which shall include but not be limited to a description of how the district’s policies, including those developed pursuant to KRS 160.340, have been amended to allow the professional staff members of a school to be involved in the decision-making process as they work to meet educational goals established in KRS 158.645 and 158.6451. The policy may include a requirement that each school council make an annual report at a public meeting of the board describing the school’s progress in meeting the educational goals set forth in KRS 158.6451 and district goals established by the board. The policy shall also address and comply with the following:

• 9. Adoption of an emergency plan as required in KRS 158.162;

(3) The policies adopted by the local board to implement school-based decision making shall also address the following:

• (c) School improvement plans, including the form and function of strategic planning and its relationship to district planning, as well as the school safety plan and requests for funding from the Center for School Safety under KRS 158.446