Florida Senate - 2022 SB 670
By Senator Cruz
18-00265-22 2022670__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to emergency drills in public schools;
3 amending s. 1006.07, F.S.; revising district school
4 board duties relating to fire drills and emergency
5 drills; expanding requirements for district school
6 board procedures relating to drills for active
7 assailant and hostage situations; requiring district
8 school boards to establish procedures to provide
9 advance notification of drills for active assailant
10 and hostage situations to parents and to provide
11 parents with an option to excuse their students from
12 drills requiring evacuation from a building; requiring
13 such procedures to allow certain students to elect to
14 remain on school premises during drills requiring
15 evacuation from a building and remain excused from the
16 drills; requiring such procedures to address the needs
17 of exceptional education students; providing an
18 effective date.
19
20 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
21
22 Section 1. Subsection (4) of section 1006.07, Florida
23 Statutes, is amended to read:
24 1006.07 District school board duties relating to student
25 discipline and school safety.—The district school board shall
26 provide for the proper accounting for all students, for the
27 attendance and control of students at school, and for proper
28 attention to health, safety, and other matters relating to the
29 welfare of students, including:
30 (4) EMERGENCY DRILLS; EMERGENCY PROCEDURES.—
31 (a) Formulate and prescribe policies and procedures, in
32 consultation with the appropriate public safety agencies, for
33 fire drills and emergency drills for other and for actual
34 emergencies, including, but not limited to, fires, natural
35 disasters, active assailant and hostage situations, and bomb
36 threats, for all students and faculty at all public schools of
37 the district comprised of grades K-12.
38 (b) Require public elementary schools to conduct at least
39 six fire drills and six emergency drills each school year. Four
40 of the six fire drills must involve evacuating a building to a
41 designated meeting location outside of the building. Meeting
42 locations must vary between drills to minimize drill fatigue and
43 the creation of unnecessary exposure to active threats or
44 assailants. Two of the six fire drills may constitute fire
45 prevention training with content designed by the Division of
46 State Fire Marshal or the Department of Education, but only
47 after a minimum of two evacuation drills have occurred. Four of
48 the six emergency drills must address active threats, including,
49 but not limited to, active assailants, hostage situations, or
50 bomb threats. Two of the six emergency drills must address
51 natural disasters.
52 (c) Require public middle and high schools to conduct at
53 least four fire drills and six emergency drills each school
54 year. Three of the four fire drills must involve evacuating a
55 building to a designated meeting location outside of the
56 building. Meeting locations must vary between drills to minimize
57 drill fatigue and the creation of unnecessary exposure to active
58 threats or assailants. One of the four fire drills may
59 constitute fire prevention training with content designed by the
60 Division of State Fire Marshal or the Department of Education,
61 but only after a minimum of two evacuation drills have occurred.
62 Four of the six emergency drills must address active threats,
63 including, but not limited to, active assailants, hostage
64 situations, or bomb threats. Two of the six emergency drills
65 must address natural disasters.
66 (d) Require district school drills to be conducted in
67 developmentally appropriate and age-appropriate manners, consist
68 of unique sets of circumstances that require faculty and
69 students to consider the response to specific threats, and be
70 delivered using plain language.
71 (e) Require district school drills for active assailant and
72 hostage situations to shall be conducted in accordance with
73 developmentally appropriate and age-appropriate procedures at
74 least as often as other emergency drills. Procedures relating to
75 such drills must be developed in consultation with at least one
76 mental health professional and be consistent with guidance
77 provided by the National Association of School Psychologists.
78 Law enforcement officers must be physically present and directly
79 involved in the execution of all such drills.
80 (f) Adopt District school board policies that shall include
81 commonly used alarm system responses for specific types of
82 emergencies and verification by each school that drills have
83 been provided as required by law and fire protection codes and
84 may provide accommodations for drills conducted by exceptional
85 student education centers. District school boards shall
86 establish emergency response and emergency preparedness policies
87 and procedures that include, but are not limited to, identifying
88 the individuals responsible for contacting the primary emergency
89 response agency and the emergency response agency that is
90 responsible for notifying the school district for each type of
91 emergency.
92 (g) Establish procedures to provide notification of drills
93 to parents before a drill occurs. The procedures must provide a
94 parent with the option to excuse his or her student from any
95 drills that require evacuation from a building. The procedures
96 also must allow a student whose parent has excused him or her
97 from a drill that requires evacuation from a building to remain
98 on the school premises during the drill and remain excused from
99 the drill.
100 (h)(b) Provide timely notification to parents of threats
101 pursuant to policies adopted under subsection (7) and the
102 following unlawful acts or significant emergencies that occur on
103 school grounds, during school transportation, or during school
104 sponsored activities:
105 1. Weapons possession or use when there is intended harm
106 toward another person, hostage, and active assailant situations.
107 The active assailant situation training for each school must
108 engage the participation of the district school safety
109 specialist, threat assessment team members, faculty, staff, and
110 students and must be conducted by the law enforcement agency or
111 agencies that are designated as first responders to the school’s
112 campus.
113 2. Murder, homicide, or manslaughter.
114 3. Sex offenses, including rape, sexual assault, or sexual
115 misconduct with a student by school personnel.
116 4. Natural emergencies, including hurricanes, tornadoes,
117 and severe storms.
118 5. Exposure as a result of a manmade emergency.
119 (i)(c) Require Beginning with the 2021-2022 school year,
120 each public school, including charter schools, to shall
121 implement a mobile panic alert system capable of connecting
122 diverse emergency services technologies to ensure real-time
123 coordination between multiple first responder agencies. Such
124 system, known as “Alyssa’s Alert,” must integrate with local
125 public safety answering point infrastructure to transmit 911
126 calls and mobile activations.
127 (j)(d) In addition to the requirements of paragraph (i)
128 paragraph (c), a public school district may implement additional
129 strategies or systems to ensure real-time coordination between
130 multiple first responder agencies in a school security
131 emergency.
132 (k)(e) For the 2020-2021 fiscal year and subject to the
133 appropriation of funds in the General Appropriations Act for
134 this purpose, the department shall issue a competitive
135 solicitation to contract for a mobile panic alert system that
136 may be used by each school district. The department shall
137 consult with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public
138 Safety Commission, the Department of Law Enforcement, and the
139 Division of Emergency Management in the development of the
140 competitive solicitation for the mobile panic alert system.
141 (l)(f) Establish a schedule to test the functionality and
142 coverage capacity of all emergency communication systems and
143 determine if adequate signal strength is available in all areas
144 of the school’s campus.
145 (m) Require all district school drills to address the needs
146 of exceptional education students.
147 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.