Florida Senate - 2021 SB 1780
By Senator Cruz
18-00480A-21 20211780__
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 for active shooter and hostage situations;
6 expanding requirements for district school board
7 procedures relating to drills for active shooter and
8 hostage situations; requiring district school boards
9 to establish procedures to provide advance
10 notification of drills for active shooter and hostage
11 situations to parents and to provide parents with an
12 option to excuse their students from physical drills;
13 requiring such procedures to allow certain students to
14 elect to remain on school premises during physical
15 drills and remain excused from the drills; providing
16 an effective 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 (g) 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 fire drills and emergency drills for other and for actual
33 emergencies, including, but not limited to, fires, natural
34 disasters, active shooter and hostage situations, and bomb
35 threats, for all students and faculty at all public schools of
36 the district comprised of grades K-12.
37 1.a. Public elementary schools shall conduct at least six
38 fire drills and six emergency drills each school year.
39 b. Four of the six fire drills must involve evacuating a
40 building to a designated meeting location outside of the
41 building. Meeting locations must vary between drills to minimize
42 drill fatigue and the creation of unnecessary exposure to active
43 threats or assailants. Two of the six fire drills may constitute
44 fire prevention training with content designed by the Division
45 of State Fire Marshal or the Department of Education, but only
46 after a minimum of two evacuation drills have occurred.
47 c. Four of the six emergency drills must address active
48 threats, including, but not limited to, active assailants,
49 hostage situations, or bomb threats. Two of the six emergency
50 drills must address natural disasters.
51 2.a. Public middle and high schools shall conduct at least
52 four fire drills and six emergency drills each school year.
53 b. Three of the four fire drills must involve evacuating a
54 building to a designated meeting location outside of the
55 building. Meeting locations must vary between drills to minimize
56 drill fatigue and the creation of unnecessary exposure to active
57 threats or assailants. One of the four fire drills may
58 constitute fire prevention training with content designed by the
59 Division of State Fire Marshal or the Department of Education,
60 but only after a minimum of two evacuation drills have occurred.
61 c. Four of the six emergency drills must address active
62 threats, including, but not limited to, active assailants,
63 hostage situations, or bomb threats. Two of the six emergency
64 drills must address natural disasters.
65 3. All drills must be developmentally and age appropriate,
66 consist of unique sets of circumstances that require faculty and
67 students to consider the response to that specific threat, and
68 be delivered using plain language.
69 4. Drills for active shooter and hostage situations shall
70 be conducted in accordance with developmentally appropriate and
71 age-appropriate procedures at least as often as other emergency
72 drills. Procedures relating to drills for active shooter and
73 hostage situations must be developed through consultation with
74 at least one mental health professional and be consistent with
75 the best practice considerations provided by the National
76 Association of School Psychologists. Law enforcement officers
77 must be physically present and directly involved in the
78 execution of all active shooter and hostage situation drills.
79 5.a. District school board policies must shall include
80 commonly used alarm system responses for specific types of
81 emergencies and verification by each school that drills have
82 been provided as required by law and fire protection codes. The
83 emergency response policy must shall identify the individuals
84 responsible for contacting the primary emergency response agency
85 and the emergency response agency that is responsible for
86 notifying the school district for each type of emergency.
87 b. District school board policies must address the needs of
88 exceptional education students.
89 (g) Establish procedures to provide notification of drills
90 for active shooter and hostage situations to a student’s parent
91 before a drill occurs and to provide the parent with the option
92 to excuse his or her student from any drills that require
93 evacuation from a building. The procedures must also allow a
94 student whose parent has excused him or her from a drill that
95 requires evacuation from a building to elect to remain on the
96 school premises during the drill and remain excused from the
97 drill.
98 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.