Student Support Services
At the April 2024 meeting of the Board of Regents, two packages of proposed amendments to Commissioner’s Regulation §155.17 were presented that will become effective and . As you are reviewing and updating your building-level emergency response plan and districtwide school safety plan for the 2024-25 school year, we encourage you to implement the changes that will become effective July 31, 2024 in anticipation of their permanent adoption at the July 2024 meeting of the Board of Regents.
Comments regarding the proposed regulation changes may be submitted to REGCOMMENTS@nysed.gov before July 1, 2024.
A summary of the proposed amendments as well as recommendations for how to implement is provided below.
(effective July 31, 2024)
| Change | Suggested Considerations when Implementing |
|---|---|
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Adding the following terms and definitions to regulation:
Require that District-wide School Safety Plans and Building-level Emergency Response Plans ensure that that:
Require that District-wide School Safety Plan:
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Each school’s building-level emergency response plan details the procedures that are in place if an emergency were to occur. Providing training to staff and students about the emergency procedures is an essential part of school safety. The goal in providing training and conducting drills is to practice and prepare, not to scare. Schools should include school social workers, counselors, psychologists, nurses, special education teachers and other pupil personnel services staff on your safety teams to utilize their knowledge and expertise in developing training and drills that are trauma-informed and age and developmentally appropriate. When conducting a drill, it must ALWAYS be announced that it is a DRILL and NOT AN EMERGENCY. Use consistent language to ensure students and staff know you are conducting a drill, such as, “This is a drill, not an actual emergency. This is a drill. We are now practicing how to Lockdown (or Evacuate). This is a drill.” Conduct drills in a trauma-informed manner and leave time after the drill to debrief with students and answer questions. Involve school pupil personnel services staff as needed to support students and/or staff. Your safety team must develop parental notification procedures regarding drills. Consider the following:
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| Require that prevention and intervention strategies that are documented in District-wide School Safety Plans include information regarding school or district-level behavioral assessment teams or county or regional threat assessment teams, if applicable. |
If district or school personnel participate in such a team, this change requires that the district-wide school safety plan include information appropriate to the team. You may want to include:
Note that this change does not require that districts or schools adopt a behavioral assessment team or county or regional threat assessment team. A suggested resource is the |
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Require that building-level emergency response plans include floor plans labeled with:
Require that building-level emergency response plans include area maps labeled with:
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See information in |
| Explicitly include bus drivers and monitors in the required members of the district-wide school safety team and policies and procedures that apply to teachers and other school personnel in the district-wide plan. | The regulation and statute require certain staff in certain titles or roles be included in safety teams, however a district may include additional staff, at their discretion. |
The second package of amendments that will become effective July 1, 2025, titled defines the following required emergencyterms to standardize terminology in all schools statewide and to eliminate confusion created from misuse of terms that sound similar:
- Evacuate and evacuation mean to move students for their protection from a school building to a predetermined location in response to an emergency.
- Shelter and shelter-in place mean keeping students in school buildings and providing them with shelter when it is deemed safer for students to remain inside rather than to return home or be evacuated.
- Lockdown means to immediately clear the hallways, lock and/or barricade doors, hide from view, and remain silent while readying a plan of evacuation as a last resort. Lockdown will only end upon physical release from the room or secured area by law enforcement. Lockdown is initiated during incidents that pose an immediate threat of violence in or around the school.
- Hold and Hold-in place mean the restriction of movement of students and staff within the building while dealing with short term emergencies.
- Secure Lockout means students and staff remain inside locked and secured school buildings during incidents that pose an imminent concern outside the school.
Thank you for all you do to keep students and staff safe every day. If you have questions about these changes, or suggestions for how NYSED may support schools in this area, please contact the Office of Student Support Services at SafetyPlans@nysed.gov.
