The West Virginia Schools Crisis Prevention and Response Plan template, incorporated by reference, encourages districts to include local law enforcement, SROs, emergency management, mental health providers, and members of the county board on local crisis response planning teams.

The Policy and Procedures Handbook has been updated several times to react to the needs of the educational community served. The 2019 revisions of this handbook include a major reorganization to provide a sequential arrangement of procedures, a consolidation of forms, and a user-friendly approach for all LEAs, architects, and contractors. The Handbook will always be a living document and the needs of the students and staff of West Virginia schools will always drive the School Building Authority to strive for excellence in educational planning in our state. 206.035. Training/Drills for Staff and Students The School Access Safety Plan for each school and the School Safety Committee recommendations shall be reviewed during the Local School Improvement Council (LSIC) meetings at least annually or as items for discussion occurs. Schools are encouraged to cooperate with other schools to provide staff training regarding school access safety. All teachers and administrators should be aware of the county policies regarding school safety. Students should be provided with age appropriate training regarding the procedure they should follow in the event of an emergency. Additionally, the student code of conduct established by the county should be reviewed by the school staff and the school safety committee. Student and parental responsibilities regarding the prevention of harassment, intimidation, and bullying in schools should be reviewed and updated annually. Local boards should solicit the West Virginia State Police, local law enforcement, and emergency service trainers to advise teacher and students regarding their participation in the overall improvement of school access safety. Scheduled lockdown drills and communication capabilities in cooperation with local law enforcement are also encouraged to prepare students and staff for unauthorized intrusion on school property, should measures fail. Existing school safety training may be used to fulfill these requirements; however, school access training derived from input of the School Access Safety Audit must be incorporated into the training.

In addition to any other requirement contained in this article or the Crisis Response Plan required by §18-9F-9 of this code, each county board of education shall implement a school safety program before September 1, 2019, that at a minimum, requires: (1) Room numbers to be placed on exterior walls or windows of school buildings, so rooms with exterior walls can be identified by law enforcement and first responders from the outside; (2) Providing updated floor plans of the school to first responders and local law enforcement by September 1 of each school year; (3) First aid training for all school personnel and students each school year; and (4) Active shooter training for all school personnel and students at the beginning of each school year.