Part I. Requirements for School Safety for All Public Schools

Adds the term public school unit to GS Chapter 115's defined terms, set out in GS 115C-5, defining the term to include a local school administrative unit, a charter school, a regional school, and a school providing elementary or secondary instruction operated by the State Board of Education (State Board) or UNC.

Codifies the existing statutes of Article 8C of GS Chapter 115C into two Parts. Codifies GS 115C-105.46 (State Board of Education responsibilities), GS 115C-47A (Proposals to establish alternative learning programs or alternative schools), and GS 115C-105.48 (Placement of students in alternative learning schools/alternative learning programs) into Part 1, titled Local Plans for Alternative Schools/Alternative Learning Programs, and the remaining sections of Article 8C into Part 2, Maintaining Safe and Orderly Schools.

Amends GS 115C-105.49(a) and (d), GS 115C-105.49A(b), GS 115C-105.52, GS 115C-105.53(a) and (b), and GS 115C-105.54(a), to refer to "public school unit" rather than "local school administrative unit."

Further amends GS 115C-105.49, adding a new requirement for each public school unit to report the date and time the full school-wide tabletop exercise and drill (drill) is conducted to the Center for Safer Schools (Center).

Further amends GS 115C-105.49A, additionally requiring the Division of Emergency Management (Division) to leverage the schematic diagrams of participating nonpublic schools' facilities in constructing the School Risk and Response Management System (SRRMS) (currently, only includes public school units). Makes conforming changes to GS 115C-105.53(b).

Repeals specified subsections of GS 115C-218.75 (concerning charter schools), GS 115C-238.66 (concerning regional schools), and GS 115C-239.8 (concerning laboratory schools) regarding respective School Risk Management Plans (SRMPs), school safety exercises, and school safety information reported to the Division. Instead, enacts a new subsection to each statute requiring charter schools, regional schools, and laboratory schools to comply with the applicable requirements of Part 2 of Article 8C, as amended. Similarly, makes the same requirements applicable to innovative schools and the North Carolina School of Math and Sciences, adding to GS 115C-75.9 and GS 116-235, respectively. Enacts GS 115C-150.16 and GS 116-69.2, adding the same requirements to schools for students with visual and hearing impairments and the North Carolina School of the Arts, respectively.

Amends GS 115C-551 to more specifically refer to private church schools or schools of religious charter regarding voluntary participation in State programs. Adds a new section encouraging all private church schools and all schools of religious charter to adopt a SRMP in coordination with local law enforcement, provide schematic diagrams and main entrance keys to local law enforcement agencies (in addition to implementing companion provisions in GS 115C-105.52), at least annually hold a full school-wide lockdown exercise, and provide specified safety information to the Division. Amends GS 115C-559 to more specifically refer to qualified nonpublic schools regarding voluntary participation in State programs. Adds a new section encouraging the same school safety protocols as those added to GS 115C-551, above.

Effective July 1, 2019, and applicable beginning with the 2019-20 school year.

Part II. Clarify the Powers and Duties of the Center for Safer Schools

Amends GS 115C-105.57, which establishes the Center and provides for its operation. Current law generally grants the Center all powers and duties provided for in Article 8C of GS Chapter 115C. Enumerates 11 specific duties of the Center, including (1) serving as a resource and referral center for the State in conducting research, sponsoring workshops, and providing information regarding current school safety concerns; (2) providing training and professional development for public school personnel in the development and implementation of initiatives promoting school safety; (3) developing model policies for threat assessment teams for public school units; and (4) coordinating grants for school resource officers in elementary and middle schools and ensuring that training requirements for school resource officers funded by those grants are met. Further amends the statute, explicitly charging the Center with the duty to coordinate, collaborate, and seek necessary information from eight State and local government agencies, enumerated by the statute. Adds a new subsection, requiring the Center to receive guidance and advice from the Task Force for Safer Schools. Makes technical changes. 

Part III. Threat Assessment Teams

Enacts GS 115C-105.60 in Article 8C. Sets forth defined terms. Requires public school units to adopt policies for establishing threat assessment teams consistent with the model policies developed by the Center pursuant to GS 115C-105.57(c). Defines threat assessment team to mean a team that includes persons with expertise in counseling, instruction, school administration, and law enforcement that conducts threat assessments in a public school unit. Requires the policies to include procedures for referrals to health care providers for evaluation or treatment, when appropriate. Permits superintendents to establish a committee charged with coordination and monitoring of the threat assessment teams, or charge an existing committee. Mandates that each school in the public school unit have a threat assessment team established by the superintendent. Grants the superintendent discretion in establishing a threat assessment team that can serve more than one school in the unit. Details five duties of threat assessment teams, including conducting threat assessments to determine appropriate actions and intervention based on the level of threat determined by the assessment, ranging from low risk to imminent risk, as described. Sets out the practice for the threat assessment team to immediately notify the superintendent or the superintendent’s designee upon a preliminary determination that an individual poses a high risk or imminent risk threat of violence or physical harm to self or others (as described), and details the required response(s) of the superintendent or the designee upon such report, including immediate attempts to notify the student’s parent or legal guardian. Clarifies that public school personnel are not precluded from acting immediately to address an imminent risk threat. Establishes reporting requirements for each threat assessment team established to the Center. Provides for attainment of health records and criminal records upon a preliminary determination by the threat assessment team that an individual poses an imminent risk. Provides for confidentiality of records obtained, only allowing release in connection with an emergency under the standards of the federal Family Educational and Privacy Rights Act. Directs all public school units to establish threat assessment teams no later than March 1, 2020.

Enacts GS 143B-931A, authorizing the Department of Public Safety to provide criminal record checks to members of a threat assessment team pursuant to GS 115C-105.76. Reiterates confidentiality requirements of threat assessment team members.

Amends GS 115C-47 to require local boards of education to require peer-to-peer student support programs be established at all school with grades six and higher, and encouraging local boards to implement the support programs as appropriate in other grades. Amends GS 115C-316.1 to require school counselors to coordinate and provide training for students in peer-to-peer student support programs that address conflict resolution, general health and wellness, and mentoring. Provides that the Center will support school counselors in the administration and delivery of these support programs.

Applicable beginning with the 2019-20 school year.

Part IV. County Local School Administrative Units State Emergency Plan

Amends GS 115C-47(40), requiring each local board of education to adopt a state of emergency plan for the public school units of the county as part of the SRMP. Requires prior consultation with any other public school units within the county.

Enacts GS 115C-105.50 in Article 8C, requiring county boards of education to implement the state of emergency plan developed pursuant to GS 115C-47(40), as amended, in the event of a countywide state of emergency, as that term is defined by the statute. Mandates compliance with the plan by all public school units within the county.

Applies beginning with the 2019-20 school year. Directs county boards of education to adopt the state of emergency plan by October 1, 2019.

Part V. School Resource Officer Defined/Training Standards/Reports

Enacts GS 115C-105.70, defining a school safety resource officer as a law enforcement officer who is assigned to one or more public schools for at least 20 hours per week to assist with school security, safety, emergency preparedness, emergency response, or any other responsibility assigned by the school or law enforcement agency. Requires school safety resource officers to complete initial training before service and to comply with any continuing training requirements established by the officer’s certifying commission. Directs the NC Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission and the NC Sheriff’s Education and Training Commission (the Commissions) to collaborate with the Center for Safer Schools to establish initial training and continuing education standards for school safety resource officers. Requires the standards to minimally include training on mental health, students with disabilities, and crisis intervention and de-escalation. Applies to school safety resource officers employed beginning with the 2020-21 school year.

Amends GS 17C-6(a) and GS 17E-4(a), concerning the power of the NC Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission and the NC Sheriff’s Education and Training Commission, respectively, to make conforming changes authorizing the Commissions to establish initial training and continuing education training standards for school safety resource officers pursuant to new GS 115C-105.70.

Requires the Commissions to collaborate with the Center for Safer Schools and establish the initial training standards for school safety resource officers no later than January 15, 2020.

Enacts GS 115C-105.71, establishing annual reporting requirements for public school units to the Center regarding school resource officers, with the first report due by September 15, 2019. Requires the Center to annually submit to the specified NCGA committee, with the first report by November 15, 2019, an executive summary and aggregation of data for each public school unit regarding the information reported by the units to the Center.

Part VI. School Building Vulnerability Assessment

Enacts GS 115C-105.52A, directing each local school administrative unit to require each school under its control to complete a facility vulnerability assessment for each school building at least once annually. Directs the Center to develop a facility vulnerability assessment tool in collaboration with the Department of Public Instruction, Division of Safe and Healthy Schools Support (Division), to be used by administrative units in their annual assessment. Requires the Center for Safer Schools and the Division to develop the assessment tool by January 15, 2020. Requires each administrative unit to complete a facility vulnerability assessment for each school building before the end of the 2019-20 school year and annually thereafter.

Amends GS 115C-105.49A, as amended in Part 1 of the act, mandating the SRRMS, constructed by the Division, integrate any facility vulnerability assessments as part of an SRMP pursuant to new GS 115C-105.52A where technically feasible.