F. School Safety Planning and Emergency Procedures

1. Each LEA shall protect the health and safety of students and staff, through the implementation of comprehensive school safety planning and the development of emergency procedures to address a wide range of potential emergency situations, including, but not limited to, incidents of fire, natural disasters, violence, disease related crises or epidemics, terrorism, and hazardous material spills.
2. Each LEA shall develop plans that include prevention, planning, communication, response, and recovery. School and district personnel shall work with state and local emergency personnel, as appropriate, in the planning and implementation of safety plans.

4.40.3 School Safety Plans A. In accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-21-23(b), the school committee of each city, town, and regional school department is required to adopt a comprehensive school safety plan that addresses preparedness, response and recovery and meets the policy and procedure requirements in R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-21-24.

1. The school safety plan must include best practices and relevant provisions of the current state model plan as published by RIDE including: a. Guidance for communicating threats of violence or harm to the specifically identifiable student(s) and/or school personnel who are the subject of said threats by individuals or groups. b. Standard for determining those threats of violence or harm that meet the threshold of seriousness and reasonableness so that communication of said threats to specifically identifiable students and/or school personnel is justified;
2. The school committee is required to review and update the school safety plans by November 1 of each year in accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-21-25.

This document lays out protocols for schools in emergency situations.

"The guidelines provide a step-by-step model for individual schools to develop their own School Crisis Response Plan (SCRP) and to evaluate plans that are already in place. "

(a) Each school district of each town, city, and regional school department shall conduct a school safety assessment in conjunction with local police, fire, school safety team pursuant to the provisions of this section and any other expert said school department deems necessary. The assessment shall examine the current status of each school building's safety and shall be performed within thirty (30) days of passage of this act, and every three (3) years thereafter. (1) There shall be a Rhode Island school safety committee whose functions shall include, but not be limited to, providing training to law enforcement, school administrators, and teachers; collecting and reviewing all hazard safety security assessments; and offering recommendations and assistance to each school district of every town, city, and regional school department, in an effort to increase the safety of students and faculty. The committee shall be comprised of twelve (12) members as follows: the superintendent of the Rhode Island state police or designee, who shall serve as chairperson of the committee; the president of the Police Chiefs' Association, or designee; the director of the Rhode Island emergency management agency, or designee; the commissioner of the department of elementary and secondary education, or designee; a representative from the Rhode Island School Superintendents' Association, to be selected by the association; the director of the department of behavioral healthcare, developmental disabilities and hospitals, or designee; the state fire marshal, or designee; a representative of the Rhode Island Association of School Maintenance Directors, to be selected by the association; a representative from the Rhode Island Association of School Principals, to be selected by the association; a representative from the Rhode Island Association of School Committees, to be selected by the association; a representative from the National Education Association of Rhode Island ("NEARI"), who shall be a full-time classroom teacher, to be selected by the president of NEARI; and one representative from the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals ("RIFTHP"), who shall be a full-time classroom teacher, to be selected by the president of the RIFTHP. (2) Each school department of each town, city, and regional school district shall complete the emergency action plan and shall submit the all hazards site safety survey report to the Rhode Island school safety committee every three (3) years for the committee's review and recommendation. (3) The assessment shall be completed by November 1 of the year mandated, and by December 31 of that year, the commissioner of elementary and secondary education shall report to the speaker of the house, the senate president, and the governor that the assessments have been completed. Assessments performed within a year of the date of passage of this act shall satisfy this requirement. (4) All meetings regarding the school safety assessment are not subject to the open meetings law pursuant to chapter 46 of title 42, and documents produced including, but not limited to, meeting minutes and the school safety assessment are not subject to the access to public records law pursuant to chapter 2 of title 38. (b) The school committee of each town, city, and regional school department shall review and adopt in executive session a comprehensive school safety plan regarding crisis intervention, emergency response, and management. The plan shall be developed by a school safety team comprised of representatives of the school committee; representatives of student, teacher, and parent organizations; school safety personnel; school administration; and members of local law enforcement, fire, and emergency personnel. Members of the school safety team shall be appointed by the school committee and/or school superintendent of the town, city, or regional school district. In creating the school safety plan, the school safety team(s) shall consult the model school safety plan developed by the department of elementary and secondary education pursuant to § 16-21-23.1. (c) The school crisis response team shall be comprised of those selected school personnel willing to serve as members of a psychological response team to address the psychological and emotional needs of the school community, and may seek mental health resources from the department of elementary and secondary education. Members of the school crisis response team may coordinate mental health services for those students and school employees affected by acts of violence in the schools, using resources available through the department of elementary and secondary education.

(a) It shall be the duty of the department of elementary and secondary education to collaborate with the Rhode Island emergency management agency, state police, state fire marshal, the department of behavioral health, developmental disabilities, and hospitals, and other safety officials to develop a model school safety plan to be consulted by school safety teams in accordance with § 16-21-23. This model plan shall be based on best practices in school safety planning and the department of elementary and secondary education shall communicate the plan electronically to all school committees and school safety teams in the state. (b) It shall be the duty of the department of elementary and secondary education to develop and disseminate school safety check lists that school districts can use on a regular basis and at least annually to assess the strengths and weaknesses of school safety in accordance with § 16-21-24. The check lists shall incorporate best practices in school safety planning and the department of elementary and secondary education shall communicate the plan electronically to all school committees and school safety teams in the state.

a) School safety plans, as required by this chapter, shall address, but not to be limited to, prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. The school safety plans shall include, at a minimum, the following policies and procedures:

• (1) Appropriate prevention, mitigation, preparedness and intervention strategies which are based on data to target priority needs and which make use of effective actions based on currently accepted best practices and once developed, the appropriate parts of the state model plan pursuant to general laws § 16-21-23.1 that include consistent, plain language and terminology;
• (2) Formalized collaborative arrangements with state and local law enforcement and fire fighter officials, designed to ensure that school safety officers and other security personnel are adequately trained, including being trained to de-escalate potentially violent situations, and are effectively and fairly recruited;
• (3) Policies and procedures relating to school building security, including where appropriate the use of school safety officers and/or security devices or procedures;
• (4) Policies and procedures for annual school safety training and a review of the school crisis response plan for staff and students;
• (5) Protocols for school personnel and students responding to bomb threats, hostage- takings, intrusions, and kidnappings that include consistent, plain language and terminology that is recommended by the model plan pursuant to general laws § 16-21-23.1;
• (6) Policies and procedures for responding to violence by students, teachers, other school personnel as well as visitors to the school that include consistent, plain language and terminology that is recommended by the model plan pursuant to general laws § 16-21-23.1;
• (7) Policies and procedures for responding to acts of violence by students, teachers, other school personnel and visitors to the school that include consistent, plain language and terminology that is recommended by the model plan pursuant to general laws § 16-21-23.1;
• (8) Policies and procedures for contacting appropriate law enforcement officials and EMS/Fire, in the event of a violent incident and that include consistent, plain language and terminology that is recommended by the model plan pursuant to general laws § 16-21-23.1;
• (9) Policies and procedures for notification and activation of the school crisis response team that include consistent, plain language and terminology that is recommended by the model plan pursuant to general laws § 16-21-23.1;
• (10) Policies and procedures for contacting parents, guardians, or persons in parental relation to the students of the city, town, or region in the event of a violent incident;
• (11) 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, persons in parental relation to students of the city, town, or region students and other persons deemed appropriate to receive that information;

(a) Each city, town, or regional department school safety plan and school emergency response plans shall be reviewed on an annual basis by the school committee and updated annually. These reviews and updates shall be completed by November 1 of any given year, and by December 31 of that year, the commissioner of elementary and secondary education shall report to the speaker of the house, the president of the senate, and the governor that such reviews or updates have been completed. (b) All meetings of school safety teams shall not be subject to and be exempt from the open meetings law pursuant to chapter 46 of title 42, and documents produced by the school safety teams shall not be subject to the access to public records laws as set forth in chapter 2 of title 38