8130 School Safety Plans and Teams

8000: Support Services

The Board of Education realizes emergencies and violent incidents in schools are critical issues that must be addressed in an expeditious and effective manner and recognizes its responsibility to adopt and keep current a comprehensive District-wide school safety plan and building-level emergency response plan(s) which address violence prevention, crisis intervention, emergency response and management.

Taken together, the District-wide and building level plans shall provide a comprehensive approach to addressing school safety and violence prevention and provide the structure where all individuals can fully understand their roles and responsibilities for promoting the safety of the entire school community. The plans shall be designed to prevent or minimize the effects of serious violent incidents and emergencies, declared State disaster emergencies involving a communicable disease or local public health emergency declaration and other emergencies and to facilitate the District’s coordination with local and county resources. The plans shall also address risk reduction/prevention, response, and recovery with respect to a variety of types of emergencies and violent incidents in District schools and will address school closures and continuity of operations.

In accordance with state law and regulation, the District shall have the following safety teams and plans to deal with violence prevention, crisis intervention and emergency response and management:

Comprehensive District-Wide School Safety Team and Plan

The Board shall annually appoint a District-wide school safety team that includes, but is not limited to, a representative from the following constituencies: the Board, teachers, administrators and parent organizations, school safety personnel and other school personnel. This team shall be responsible for the development and annual review of the comprehensive District-wide school safety plan. The plan shall cover all District school buildings and shall address violence prevention (taking into consideration a range of programs and approaches that are designed to create a positive school climate and culture), crisis intervention, emergency response and management including communication protocols and dissemination of information, as necessary, regarding early detection of potentially violent behavior, at the District level. It shall include all those elements required by law and regulation, including protocols for responding to declared State disaster emergencies involving a communicable disease that are substantially consistent with the provisions of Labor Law Section 27-c, and emergency remote instruction plan.

The Director of School Safety will be the District’s Chief Emergency Officer. The Chief Emergency Officer or designee will coordinate communication between school staff, law enforcement and first responders. The Chief Emergency Officer will ensure all staff understand the District-wide school safety plan and receive annual, multi-hazard safety training on the building-level emergency response plan, violence prevention and mental health and will also ensure the District-wide and building-level plans are completed, reviewed annually and updated as needed by the designated dates. The Chief Emergency Officer will ensure the District-wide plan is coordinated with the building-level plans and will ensure required evacuation and lock-down drills are conducted.

Building-Level Safety Team and Emergency Response Plans

Each Building Principal shall be responsible for annually appointing a building-level emergency response team that includes representation from teachers, administrators, parent organizations, school safety personnel, other school personnel (including bus drivers and monitors), law enforcement officials, fire officials, and other emergency response agencies. The emergency response team is responsible for the development and review of a building-level emergency response plan for each District building. The plan(s) will address communication, emergency response (including insuring that local responders have access to floor plans, blueprints, and other appropriate maps of school property and the immediate surrounding area), and evacuation at the building-level and shall include all components required by law and regulation including measures necessary to comply with Labor Law Section 27-c to respond to public health emergencies involving a communicable disease. These confidential plans will include evacuation routes, shelter sites, medical needs, transportation and emergency notification of parents and guardians.

Building-level emergency response plans will include protocols in response to carbon monoxide alarms or detection. Alarm or detection of carbon monoxide will result in the appropriate actions as described by the emergency response plan.

Within each building, the school safety team shall designate:

an emergency response team for incidents that includes appropriate school personnel, local law enforcement officials, fire officials, and representatives from local, regional and/or state emergency response agencies to assist the school community in responding to a serious violent incident or emergency; and
a post-incident response team that includes appropriate school personnel, medical personnel, mental health counselors and other related personnel to assist the community in coping with the aftermath of a serious violent incident or emergency.

The building-level emergency response plan includes policies and procedures for the response to emergency situations, such as those requiring evacuation, sheltering, and lockdown, and includes, at a minimum, the description of plans of action for:

evacuation;
sheltering;
lockdown;
evacuation routes;
shelter sites;
procedures for addressing medical needs;
transportation; and
emergency notification to persons in parental relation to a student.

The Building Principal shall be responsible for conducting at least one test every school year of the emergency response procedures under this plan including procedures for sheltering and early dismissal.

To maintain security and in accordance with law, the building-level emergency response plan(s) shall be confidential and shall not be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law or any other law. A summary of the District-level plan will be made available for public inspection on the District’s website:
https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1661458385/brentwoodk12nyus/llr5gxovfg3pdwpdy1nl/DistrictSafetyPlan20222023_Final.pdf.

Annual Review and Report

All plans shall be annually reviewed and updated, if necessary, by the appropriate safety team by September 1st every year. In conducting the review, the teams shall consider any changes in organization, local conditions and other factors including an evaluation of the results of the annual test of the emergency response procedures which may necessitate updating of plans. If the plan requires no changes, then it shall remain in effect. All plans must be adopted by the Board of Education on September 1st. If the District-wide plan requires changes, then the updated plan will be submitted to the Board of Education in time to allow 30-days of public comment and to hold a public hearing which provides for the participation of school personnel, students, and other interested parties prior to Board adoption. The Superintendent of Schools shall be responsible for filing the District-level school safety plan and any amendments to the plan with the Commissioner within 30 days after their adoption, no later than October 1st of each year. The District-wide plan will be posted on the District’s website: (https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1661458385/brentwoodk12nyus/llr5gxovfg3pdwpdy1nl/DistrictSafetyPlan20222023_Final.pdf). Each Building Principal shall be responsible for filing the building-level emergency response plan for his or her building and any amendments to the plan with the appropriate local law enforcement agency and the state police within 30 days after its adoption, but not later than October 1st of each year.

Cross-ref:

0115, Bullying and Harassment Prevention and Intervention
4321.12, Use of Restraints
5300, Code of Conduct
9700, Staff Development

Ref:

Education Law §2801-a (school safety plans)
Executive Law §2B (state and local natural and manmade disaster preparedness)
8 NYCRR Part 155.17 (School Safety Plans and Teams)
School Safety Plans Guidance, New York State Education Department, June 2010

Approved by the Board of Education: 06/13/13
Revision approved by the Board of Education: 01/16/20
Revision approved by the Board of Education: 10/19/23

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