Bill Summaries: H 452 2013 SCHOOL SAFETY ACT.

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  • Summary date: Apr 24 2013 - View Summary

    The House committee substitute to the 1st edition makes the following changes. Deletes the following Parts of the act: Part I, concerning school resource officers in elementary and middle schools; Part II, concerning school psychologists, school counselors, and social workers; and Part III, concerning panic alarm systems. Makes conforming changes to the effective date provisions.


  • Summary date: Apr 10 2013 - View Summary

    House committee substitute makes the following changes to the 1st edition.

    Amends GS 115C-238.29F (charter schools)and GS 115C-238.66 (regional schools) to provide for inclusion of emergency response plans at charter schools and regional schools, respectively, that adhere to the requirements for such plans, as set out in this act, the 2013 School Safety Act.Makes conforming changes to this act to reflect theinclusion of charter schools and regional schoolsin its provisions including the appropriations. Amends GS 115C-105.50 to remove the date by which the schematic diagrams andkeys are to be provided to local law enforcement agencies.Makes organizational changes, renumbering sections accordingly.

    Adds a new Part XI, effective December 1, 2013,which does the following:

    Amends GS 115C-47 adding a newsubdivision (61)to include among the designated powers and duties of local boards of education the authority to enter into an agreement with the (1) sheriff, (2) chief of police of a local police department, or (3) chief of police of a county police department to provide security at the schools by assigning volunteer school safety resource officers who meet the selection standards and criteria developed by the head of the appropriate local law enforcement agency and the criteria set out in proposed GS 162-25 or GS 160A-288.4 as appropriate.

    Amends GS 14-269.2 (Weapons on campus or other educational property) to define a volunteer school safety resource officer as a person who volunteers as a school safety resource officer as provided in proposed GS 162-25 or GS 160A-288.4. Further amends GS 14-269.2 to provide that this statute, which sets out criminal penalties for possessing or carrying a weapon openly or concealed on a campus or other educational property, and for causing, encouraging, or aiding a minor to do so, does not apply to a volunteer school safety resource officer providing security at a school under an agreement as provided in GS 115C-47and either GS 162-25 or GS 160A-288.4.

    Amends GS 160A-282(c) to provide that this subsection, which entitles persons deputized by the county sheriff as special deputy sheriffs or who are serving as volunteer lawenforcement officers at the request of the sheriff to benefits under the NC Workers' Compensation Actand any other appropriate fringe benefits, does not apply to volunteer school safety resource officers as described in GS 162-25.

    Enacts new GS 162-25, authorizing the sheriff to establish a volunteer school safety resource program, and new GS 160A-288.4, authorizing the chief of a local police department or of a county police department to establish a volunteer school safety resource officer program. Requires a person serving as a volunteer school safetyresource officer to have prior experience (1) as a sworn law enforcement officer or (2) as a military police officer with a minimum of two years' service. Requires that a program volunteer also meet any additional criteria and selection standards established by the sheriff or the police chief.

    Specifies additional criteria and standards that must be met regarding the volunteer's updating or renewal oflaw enforcement training and certification of the volunteer's meeting of educational and firearms proficiency standards.

    Provides immunity from liabilityand prohibits any cause of action arising against a volunteer school safety resource officer, the sheriff or police chief, any employees of the sheriff or police chief supervising a volunteer, or the public school system and its employeesfor any good faith action taken in the performance of their duties with regard to a volunteer school safety resource officer program established under either GS 162-25 or GS 160A-288.4.

    Amends the act's long title.


  • Summary date: Mar 27 2013 - View Summary

    Section 1 of this act appropriates $10 million for the 2013-14 fiscal year and $10 million for the 2014-15 fiscal year from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction to provide grants to local school administrative units (LEAs) for school resource officers (SROs)in elementary and middle schools. Permits LEAs to use the funds to employ or trainSROs or to do both. Provides that the appropriated funds will be matched on the basis of $2 in state funds for every $1 in local funds and must be used to supplement, not supplant, state, local, and federal funds for SROs. Requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to include need-based considerations in its criteria for awarding the grants to LEAs. Also directs the SBE to give lower priority to the LEAs that have received grants for additional school psychologists, guidance counselors, and social workers under Section 2 of this act.

    Section 2 of this actappropriates $5 million for the 2013-14 fiscal year and $5 million for the 2014-15 fiscal yearfor grants to LEAs to fund additional school psychologists, guidance counselors, and social workers. Requires that these funds be matched on the basis of $1 in state funds for every $1 in local funds and must be used to supplement, not supplant, state, local, and federal funds used for school psychologists, guidance counselors, and social workers. Requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to include need-based considerations in its criteria for awarding these grants to LEAs. Also directs the SBE to give lower priority to the LEAs that have received grants for additionalSROs under Section1 of this act.

    Enacts new GS 115C-316.1. Subsection (a) requires that school counselors implement a comprehensive developmental school counseling program in their schools and spend at least 80% of their time providing direct services to their students. Specifies that coordination of standardized testing is not a direct service. Identifies activities, services, and interactions with students and parents that constitute direct services.

    Subsection (b) directs counselors to spend the remainder of their work time on school counseling program support activities consisting of professional development, consultation, collaboration, training, and program management and operations. Declares that counseling support activities does not include the coordination of standardized testing. Does provide that school counselors may assist other staff with the coordination of standardized testing.

    Directs each local board of education to develop a transition plan for implementing subsection (b) before the 2013-14 school year using existing resources and reassigning duties within its schools. Directs the SBE to distribute guidelines to all LEAs on the implementation of subsection (b) of this section.

    Appropriates $2 million for the 2013-14 fiscal year and $2 million for the 2014-15 fiscal year to provide grants to LEAs for the costs of placing panic alarm systems in schools. Calls for these funds to be matched on the basis of $1 in state funds for every $1 in local funds, and requires that these funds be used to supplement and not to supplant state, local, and federal funds for panic alarm systems. Directs the SBE to include need-based considerations in its criteria for awarding these grants to LEAs. Requires every public school to have a panic alarm system that connects with the nearest local law enforcement agency in the school's emergency response plan, effective July 1, 2015.

    All of the following provisions apply beginning with the 2013-14 school year.

    Enacts new GS 115C-105.49, requiringthat atleast every two years, eachLEAis to conduct a system-wide school safety and school lockdown exercise with the local law enforcement agencies that are a part of the LEAs safety plan. Enumerates the purposes of this exercise. Requires that each school hold a full, school-wide school safety and lockdown exercise with the local law enforcement agencies that are part of the school's safety plan.

    Enacts new GS 115C-105.50 to require each LEA to prepare schematic diagrams of its school facilitiesand provide the diagrams and keys to the main entrance of each school to local law enforcement agencies before January 1, 2014. Requires the LEAs to supply local law enforcement agencies with updateswhen substantial modifications to their facilities are made. Directs the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to develop, in consultation with the Department of Public Safety, standards and guidelines for the preparation and content of the schematic diagrams and any necessary updates. Declares that the schematic diagrams are not public records under GS Chapter 132.

    Enacts new GS 115C-105.51 to require each LEA to develop and operate an anonymous tip line. Directs DPI to develop standards and guidelines for the development, operation, and staffing of tip lines in consultation with the Department of Public Safety. Directs DPI to provide information on grants available for this purpose.

    Amends GS 115C-105.27. Provides that school improvement team meetings are open meetings under the open meeting requirements of Article 33C of GS Chapter 143; however, requires that the school safety components of the plan be in closed session inaccordance with GS 143-318.11(a)(8) and directs the school principal to ensure this requirement is met. Provides that although the school improvement plan is a public record subject to GS Chapter 132, the school safety components of the improvement plan are not a public record subject to GS Chapter 132. Requires that the school safety components of the school improvement plan be reviewed by the superintendent andby the local board of education in closed session before there is a vote to accept the school's improvement plan under GS 115C-105.25(d). Prohibits including the local board's findings on the safety components of the plan or the safety components of the plan in the minutes of the board. Provides that any employee, parent, or other interested person or organization is encouraged to notify the superintendent of any concerns with compliance with this section. Provides that the superintendent will make a good faith effort to investigate the concern and provide a written response to the concern if so requested. Makes additional organizational and technical changes.

    Makes a conforming change to GS 143-318.11(a)(8) to add the formulation and adoption of school safety components of a school improvement plan to those activities by a public body that may be conducted in a closed session.

    Enacts new GS 115C-105.53 to direct DPI, in consultation with the Department of Public Safety through the NC Center for Safer Schools, to adopt policies regarding the placement of school crisis kits in schools and on the content of those kits.Specifies the minimal contents of the kits. Requires the principal to coordinate with law enforcement agencies that are a part of the school's safety plan to determine appropriate placement of one or more crisis kits in the school.

    Directs the Department of Public Safety, through the NC Center for Safer Schools and in partnership with the Department of Justice and DPI, to develop school emergency training programs for school employees and provide them to schools as soon as practical.

    This act becomes effective July 1, 2013.