La. Admin. Code tit. 28 § CXV-339

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section CXV-339 - Emergency Planning and Procedures

A. Each public school principal or school leader shall have a crisis management and response plan developed jointly with local law enforcement, fire, public safety, and emergency preparedness officials, that addresses the immediate response to emergency situations that may develop in schools. The plan shall seek to utilize resources and information available through the Louisiana Commission on School and Nonprofit Security. The principal or school leader shall:

1. submit the crisis management and response plan to the local superintendent, the LDOE, and the Center for Safe Schools within the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness;

2. annually review the crisis management and response plan, revising as necessary;

a. When preparing or revising the plan, consult with the district threat assessment team. The principal and the threat assessment team shall determine whether to consider input from students enrolled in the school and their parents, faculty and staff, and community leaders. The principal of a high school shall seek and consider input from the students enrolled in the school who shall be represented by either the president of the senior class or the president of the student council and at least one other responsible student selected by the principal.

b. The district threat assessment team shall include the local school superintendent, principal(s) from each school, school facilities staff member, mental health professional, school resource officer, any ROTC instructor within the LEA, and the emergency preparedness and recovery point of contact.

c. The plan shall provide for an all-hazards approach response plan for emergency events, including any event with a hostage, an active shooter, or a building lock-down.

3. within the first 30 days of each school year, conduct a safety drill to rehearse the plan;

4. not later than seven days after each drill, submit a written report summarizing the details of the drill to the local superintendent, who shall comment on the drill to the principal, and the principal shall consider the comments when revising the plan;

5. be responsible for providing in-service training pertaining to the plan for all teachers and school employees each school year. Such training may be incorporated into a meeting or training session held for another purpose and shall involve local law enforcement, fire, public safety, and emergency preparedness officials in the preparation and presentation of the training. The training shall include an active shooter exercise and shall be reported to the local school superintendent and the LDOE;

6. provide for notification of parents, faculty, staff, and local public safety officials in the event of a shooting or other violent incident or emergency situation;

7. include a cardiac emergency response plan in accordance with LAC 28:CLVII. (Bulletin 135);

8. provide that classroom doors with locks shall be in accordance with all fire safety standards and shall remain locked during instructional time. Locked doors shall not obstruct egress.

9. The local school superintendent shall make an annual report to the public school governing authority on the status of the plan of each school under the governing authority's jurisdiction.

B. Repealed.

C. The school shall establish and use procedures for reporting accidents to parents and/or the central office.

D. In the absence of a principal or school leader, another individual(s) at the school shall be delegated the necessary authority to use emergency procedures.

E. Procedures for the cancellation of school shall be established, communicated to students, teachers, and parents, and followed when necessary.

F. The school shall establish procedures for special calls to police, fire departments, and hospitals, and practice drills shall be used to ensure the effectiveness of the procedure.

G. The school shall establish procedures for the evacuation of the building in the event of fire, severe weather conditions, or bomb threats. Practice drills shall be used to ensure the effectiveness of the procedure.

H. The school will establish procedures that detail the roles and responsibilities of each school employee and each local and state public safety and emergency preparedness office, including the relevant coordination agreements, services, and security measures of a school.

I. The governing authority of each public school will, as part of its school crisis management plan, develop resources, policies, procedures, and guidelines to address the potential of violence and terrorism in the schools under its jurisdiction.

1. Any full- or part-time administrator, teacher, counselor, bus operator, or other school employee who learns of a threat of violence or threat of terrorism, whether through oral, written, or electronic communication, shall immediately report the threat to a local law enforcement agency and, if the employee is not the school administrator, to the school administrator.

2. Upon being informed of the threat, the school administrator shall make reasonable efforts to attempt to inform all persons who are targets of the threat and shall take all necessary measures to protect lives and ensure safety.

3. The school administrator shall make reasonable efforts to attempt to notify the appropriate personnel within the school district administration.

4. The school administrator and the school district administrator shall then determine if risk is imminent for any other persons as a result of the threat, and if so, notify and take reasonable measures to protect lives and ensure safety.

5. The school administrator and the school district administrator shall determine whether to notify parents of the students at the school.

6. Where the district attorney, upon receiving report of a credible threat made by a student, does not file a petition during the seven days after receiving the report from a law enforcement agency, the student who is the subject of the complaint and investigation shall be permitted to return to school unless the student is charged with assault on a teacher or battery on a teacher.

7. The school administration shall permit a student who is the subject of a complaint and investigation to return to school if, at any point after an investigation and prior to a hearing, the threat is determined not to be credible, unless the student is charged with assault on a teacher or battery on a teacher. The school administrator shall notify any person who was a target of the threat at least two school days prior to the student's return and may conduct a search of the student or student property for weapons upon the student's return.

8. If the person is not a student, the individual shall not be permitted to be within five hundred feet of any school until deemed by a healthcare professional in a formal medical or mental health evaluation to not be a danger to self or others.

9. After such a determination, the individual shall not be permitted in a school unless the school administrator has been notified of the intent to visit the school and given consent. The administrator shall provide at least two school days' notice regarding the visit to any person in the school who was directly threatened by the individual. The school administrator may deny such an individual the right to visit the school.

J. The local superintendent or chief charter school officer may dismiss any or all schools due to emergency situations, including any actual or imminent threat to public health or safety which may result in loss of life, disease, or injury; an actual or imminent threat of natural disaster, force majeure, or catastrophe which may result in loss of life, injury or damage to property; and, when an emergency situation has been declared by the governor, the state health officer, or the governing authority of the school.

K. Bleeding control kits shall be placed in easily accessible locations in each school.

1. The principal shall ensure that designated employees are trained in the proper use of a bleeding control kit and in traumatic injury response.

2. The kits shall contain, at a minimum, a tourniquet, a hemostatic bleeding control dressing, an emergency trauma dressing, one pair of nitrile gloves, and an instruction card.

3. The kit shall be annually inspected, with materials replaced as needed according to product expiration dates.

La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § CXV-339

Promulgated by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, LR 31:1262 (June 2005), amended LR 39: 3258 (December 2013), Amended by LR 41342 (2/1/2015), Amended LR 4536 (1/1/2019), Amended LR 451746 (12/1/2019), Amended LR 50175 (2/1/2024).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 17:6, 17:154.1, R.S. 29:726.5, et seq., R.S. 40:1137.3, and 17:416.16.