Florida Senate - 2020                                    SB 1712
       
       
        
       By Senator Cruz
       
       
       
       
       
       18-00697B-20                                          20201712__
    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 emergency drills for active
    5         shooter and hostage situations; expanding requirements
    6         for district school board procedures relating to
    7         drills for active shooter and hostage situations;
    8         requiring district school boards to establish
    9         procedures to provide advance notification of drills
   10         for active shooter and hostage situations to parents
   11         and to provide parents with an option to excuse their
   12         students from physical drills; providing that such
   13         procedures must allow for students to elect to remain
   14         on school premises during physical drills and remain
   15         excused from physical drills; providing an effective
   16         date.
   17          
   18  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   19  
   20         Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (4) of section
   21  1006.07, Florida Statutes, is amended, and paragraph (d) is
   22  added to that subsection, to read:
   23         1006.07 District school board duties relating to student
   24  discipline and school safety.—The district school board shall
   25  provide for the proper accounting for all students, for the
   26  attendance and control of students at school, and for proper
   27  attention to health, safety, and other matters relating to the
   28  welfare of students, including:
   29         (4) EMERGENCY DRILLS; EMERGENCY PROCEDURES.—
   30         (a) Formulate and prescribe policies and procedures, in
   31  consultation with the appropriate public safety agencies, for
   32  emergency drills and for actual emergencies, including, but not
   33  limited to, fires, natural disasters, active shooter and hostage
   34  situations, and bomb threats, for all students and faculty at
   35  all public schools of the district comprised of grades K-12.
   36         1. Drills for active shooter and hostage situations shall
   37  be conducted in accordance with developmentally appropriate and
   38  age-appropriate procedures at least as often as other emergency
   39  drills. Procedures relating to drills for active shooter and
   40  hostage situations must be developed through consultation with
   41  at least one mental health professional and be consistent with
   42  the best practice considerations provided by the National
   43  Association of School Psychologists.
   44         2. District school board policies shall include commonly
   45  used alarm system responses for specific types of emergencies
   46  and verification by each school that drills have been provided
   47  as required by law and fire protection codes. The emergency
   48  response policy shall identify the individuals responsible for
   49  contacting the primary emergency response agency and the
   50  emergency response agency that is responsible for notifying the
   51  school district for each type of emergency.
   52         (d) Establish procedures to provide notification of drills
   53  for active shooter and hostage situations to a student’s parent
   54  before a drill occurs and to provide the parent with the option
   55  to excuse his or her student from any physical drills. The
   56  procedures must also allow a student whose parent has excused
   57  him or her from the physical drills to elect to remain on the
   58  school premises during the physical drill and remain excused
   59  from the physical drill.
   60         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.