MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Education
By: Representatives Barton, Roberson
AN ACT TO CREATE "THE STUDENTS SAFE AT SCHOOL ACT"; TO DEFINE TERMS UNDER THE ACT; TO OUTLINE STANDARDS; TO PROVIDE FOR STUDENT HEALTH AND WELLNESS PROTOCOLS; TO SET FORTH NOTICE REQUIREMENTS; TO ADDRESS STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN SHOOTER DRILLS; TO ADDRESS STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN ACTIVE SHOOTER SIMULATIONS; TO REQUIRE VIOLENCE PREVENTION TRAINING; TO PROVIDE FOR STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN SAFETY PLANNING; TO PROVIDE FOR PUBLICATION OF VENDORS; TO CREATE GUIDELINES TO MEASURE EFFECTIVENESS OF DRILLS; TO CREATE THE SCHOOL EMERGENCY RESPONSE MAPPING DATA GRANT PROGRAM WITHIN THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL; TO AUTHORIZE EACH SCHOOL DISTRICT, CHARTER SCHOOL GOVERNING BOARD AND PRIVATE SCHOOL GOVERNING BOARD, IN CONSULTATION WITH LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES, TO PROVIDE SCHOOL MAPPING DATA FOR EACH SCHOOL IN THE AREA OF THE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY'S JURISDICTION; TO REQUIRE THE ENTITY PRODUCING THE DATA TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVIDING DATA TO THE SCHOOLS AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AND PUBLIC SAFETY AGENCIES FOR USE IN RESPONSE TO EMERGENCIES; TO PRESCRIBE THE REQUIRED COMPONENTS OF WHAT SCHOOL MAPPING DATA SHOULD ENTAIL; TO REQUIRE THAT UPDATES TO THE SCHOOL MAPPING DATA BE ACCESSIBLE IN SOFTWARE PLATFORMS; TO ESTABLISH THE SCHOOL EMERGENCY RESPONSE MAPPING DATA GRANT PROGRAM IN THE STATE TREASURY; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 37-11-5, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR THE PURPOSE OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; TO CREATE THE MISSISSIPPI SCHOOL SAFETY TASK FORCE; TO PROVIDE FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS OF THE TASK FORCE; TO PROVIDE THAT THE TASK FORCE WILL CONTINUALLY STUDY ENSURING AND ENHANCING SAFE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS FOR STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND STAFF IN MISSISSIPPI, AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BEST PRACTICES FOR PREVENTION AND RESPONSE; TO PROVIDE FOR THE TASK FORCE TO CONDUCT ITS BUSINESS; TO REQUIRE THAT THE TASK FORCE WILL REPORT ITS FINDINGS AND ANY RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE LEGISLATURE ON AN ANNUAL BASIS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Students Safe at School Act."
SECTION 2. For the purposes of this act the following words and phrases shall have the meaning ascribed in this section unless the context shall otherwise require:
(a) "Active shooter drill means an emergency preparedness drill designed to teach students, teachers, school personnel and staff how to respond in the event of an armed intruder on campus or an armed assailant in the immediate vicinity of the school, and which may not include any sensorial components, activities or elements that mimic a real-life shooting. An active shooter drill, including practice active shooter drills, is not an active shooter simulation.
(b) "Active shooter simulation" means an emergency exercise, including full-scale or functional exercises, designed to teach adult school personnel and staff how to respond in the event of an armed intruder on campus or an armed assailant in the immediate vicinity of the school, and which incorporates activities or elements mimicking a real-life shooting, which include, but are not limited to, simulation of tactical
response by law enforcement. An active shooter simulation is not an active shooter drill.
(c) "Evidence-based" means a program or practice that
demonstrates any of the following:
(i) A statistically significant effect on relevant outcomes based on any of the following:
1. Strong evidence from not fewer than one (1) well-designed and well-implemented experimental study;
2. Moderate evidence from not fewer than one (1) well-designed and well-implemented quasi-experimental study; 3. Promising evidence from not fewer than one (1) well-designed and well-implemented correlational study with statistical controls for selection bias; or
(ii) A rationale based on high-quality research findings or positive evaluations that the program or practice is likely to improve relevant outcomes, which shall also include the ongoing efforts to examine the effects of the program or practice.
(d) "Department of Education" means the State Department of Education.
(e) "Department of Mental Health" means the Mississippi Department of Mental Health.
(f) "Full-scale exercise" means an operations-based exercise that is typically the most complex and resource-intensive of the exercise types and often involves multiple agencies, jurisdictions, organizations and real-time movement of resources.
(g) "Functional exercise" means an operations-based exercise designed to assess and evaluate capabilities and functions while in a realistic, real-time environment, however, movement of resources is usually simulated.
SECTION 3. (1) Every active shooter drill, including practice active shooter drills, undertaken with students in Grades K-12 shall be:
(a) Accessible;
(b) Developmentally appropriate and age-appropriate, including appropriate safety verbiage and vocabulary;
(c) Culturally aware;
(d) Trauma-informed; and
(e) Including of accommodations for students with mobility restrictions, sensory needs, developmental or physical disabilities, mental health needs, and auditory or visual limitations.
(2) Before a practice active shooter drill can be held, it shall meet the requirements of subsection (1).
SECTION 4. (1) Protocols for active shooter drills,
including practice active shooter drills, shall include a reasonable amount of time, immediately following the drill, for teachers to debrief with their students, which shall:
(a) Be provided to students before regular classroom activity can be resumed; and
(b) Allow students to access mental health postvention services available on campus, including, counselors, school psychologists or social workers.
(2) A practice active shooter drill cannot be combined or
conducted with any other type of emergency preparedness drill required under Section 37-11-5.
(3) When an active shooter drill is a practice drill, it must be announced as a practice drill before the commencement of the practice drill using age-appropriate language and, at a minimum, informing students that there is no immediate danger to life and safety.
SECTION 5. (1) Before a practice active shooter drill is held, the school or charter school in which the practice drill is to take place, shall provide notice to every student's parent or legal guardian.
(2) Notice of an upcoming practice active shooter drill should be provided at least twenty-four (24) hours before the drill is scheduled to take place. The notice shall state the right of the parent or legal guardian to opt their student out of participating. If a student is opted out of participating in practice active shooter drills, no negative mark shall be added to the student's general school attendance record nor shall nonparticipation alone make a student ineligible to participate in or attend school activities.
(3) The State Department of Education shall ensure the availability of alternative safety education for students who are opted out, or otherwise exempted from participating in practice active shooter drills, be appropriate for students with mental health needs, mobility restrictions, sensory needs, developmental or physical disabilities and auditory or visual limitations.
(4) Where notice cannot be provided in advance, notice that a practice active shooter drill took place shall be provided to every student's parent or legal guardian within twenty-four (24) hours of the drill having taken place.
SECTION 6. (1) No student in Grades K-12 shall be required to participate in a practice active shooter drill where the training model used to teach school personnel how to conduct a proper drill does not meet the standards set forth in Sections 3 and 4 of this act.
(2) (a) No student in Grades K-12 shall be required to participate in an active shooter simulation. No active shooter simulation may take place during regular school hours if a majority of students are present or expected to be present at the school.
(b) Parents or legal guardians of students
in Grades 9-12 shall have the opportunity to opt their student into participation in active shooter simulations. Parents or legal guardian opting in must provide written notice to their student's school, which such notice, at a minimum, must clearly state the student has permission to participate in the simulation.
SECTION 7. (1) Every school district and charter school
undertaking an active shooter drill, including practice active
shooter drills, shall provide students in Grades 6-12 at least one (1) hour or one (1) standard class period of violence prevention training annually.
(2) The violence prevention training required in subsection (1) shall be evidence-based and may be delivered in-person,
live-virtual or digitally. Training, at a minimum, shall teach students the following:
(a) How to identify observable warning signs and signals of an individual who may be at risk of harming themselves or others;
(b) The importance of taking threats seriously and seeking help; and
(c) The steps that can be taken to report dangerous, violent, threatening, harmful or potentially harmful activity.
(3) Within one hundred twenty (120) days of this law taking effect, the Department of Education shall develop a list of evidence-based trainings that school districts and charter schools may use to fulfill the requirements of this section, including no-cost programming, if any, and shall:
(a) Post the list publicly on the department's website; and
(b) Update the list every two (2) years.
(4) School districts and charter schools may use a training
that does not appear on the list if the training meets the
requirements set forth in subsection (2) of this section.
SECTION 8. School districts and charter schools shall ensure students have the opportunity to contribute to their school's safety and violence-prevention planning. These opportunities shall align with the recommendations of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's multi-hazard planning for schools, including, but not limited to:
(a) Providing student opportunities for leadership related to prevention and safety;
(b) Providing encouragement and support to students in establishing clubs and programs focused on safety; and
(c) Providing students with the opportunity to seek help from adults, and to learn about prevention connected to topics including bullying, sexual harassment, sexual assault and suicide.
SECTION 9. (1) The State Department of Education shall make publicly available, on its website, a list of vendors who teach school personnel, including school safety officers, how to conduct active shooter drills. At a minimum, the vendor list must include the name of the school or charter school, the name of the vendor and the vendor's website address, if available. The vendor list shall be updated every two (2) years.
(2) For the purpose of this section, the term "vendor" shall include for-profit and nonprofit entities, as well as public agencies.
SECTION 10. (1) The State Department of Education shall, in partnership with the Department of Mental Health, create guidelines for measuring the effectiveness of active shooter drills. The guidelines shall:
(a) Be made available to every school district or charter school that conducts an active shooter drill, including practice active shooter drills; and
(b) Provide parents, legal guardians, students,
staff and school-based mental health professionals the
right to review and comment on the active shooter drill guidelines.
(2) Every local school board and charter school governing board shall hold at least one (1) meeting every year to review the following:
(a) The efficacy and effects of each school's active shooter drills, including practice active shooter drills;
(b) The impact of active shooter drills on the safety of students and staff; and
(c) The impact of active shooter drills, including practice active shooter drills, on the mental health and wellness of students and staff.
SECTION 11. (1) (a) There is created within the Office of the Attorney General, the School Emergency Response Mapping Data Grant Program, for the purpose of establishing a single, verified source of mapping data for each school in the State of Mississippi that is standardized, accurate and accessible to public safety agencies and which ensures efficient responses to any emergency on a school campus.
(b) Each school district, charter school governing board and governing board of each private K-12 school, in consultation with local law enforcement agencies having appropriate jurisdiction in the county or municipality wherein the school district is located, may apply to receive funds from the program to provide school mapping data for each public, charter and private school in that county or municipality. The school district and respective charter school and private school governing board shall use the funds by the Legislature into the School Emergency Response Mapping Data Grant to satisfy all of the requirements of this section, which may include procuring a vendor to provide such data.
(2) The entity producing the data is responsible for providing the data to the school district and local law enforcement and public safety agencies for use in response to emergencies.
(3) School mapping data must:
(a) Be provided in an electronic or a digital
format to assist first responders in responding to emergencies at schools;
(b) Be compatible with software platforms used by local, state and federal law enforcement and public safety agencies that provide emergency services to the specific
school for which the data is provided without:
(i) Requiring those agencies to purchase additional software; or
(ii) Requiring a fee to view or access the data;
(c) Be compatible with security software platforms in use by the specific school for which the data is provided without:
(i) Requiring those agencies to purchase additional software; or
(ii) Requiring a fee to view or access the data;
(d) Be in a printable format and, if requested in addition to paragraph (a), be in a digital file format that can be integrated into interactive mobile platforms in use;
(e) Be verified by an entity producing data for accuracy which performed a walk-through of school buildings and grounds;
(f) Be oriented true north;
(g) Include accurate floor plans overlaid on a current, verified aerial imagery of the campus;
(h) Contain site-specific labeling that matches the structure of school buildings, including room labels, hallway names, and external door or stairwell numbers and locations of hazards, critical utility locations, key boxes, automated external defibrillators and trauma kits;
(i) Contain site-specific labeling that matches the school grounds, including parking areas, athletic fields, school and surrounding roads and neighboring properties; and
(j) Be overlaid with gridded X and Y coordinates.
(4) Any future updates to the school mapping data shall be accessible in software platforms used by local, county, state and federal public safety agencies that provide emergency services to specific schools.
(5) Public safety agencies and school districts will have perpetual access to all school mapping data developed for this grant program at no cost.
SECTION 12. (1) There is created in the State Treasury a special fund to be known as the School Emergency Response Mapping Data Grant Program Fund, which shall be administered by the Office of the Attorney General. The purpose of the fund shall be to provide funding to school mapping data for each public, charter and private school to ensure efficient responses to an emergency on a school campus. Monies in the fund shall be expended by the Attorney General, upon appropriation by the Legislature. The fund shall be a continuing fund, not subject to fiscal-year limitations, and shall consist of:
(a) Monies appropriated by the Legislature for the purposes of funding the School Emergency Response Mapping Data Grant Program;
(b) The interest accruing to the fund;
(c) Any monies received from the federal government for such purposes;
(d) Donations; and
(e) Monies received from such other sources as may be provided by law.
SECTION 13. Section 37-11-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
37-11-5. (1) It shall be the duty of the principals and teachers in all public school buildings to instruct the pupils in the methods of fire drills and to practice fire drills until all the pupils in the school are familiar with the methods of escape. Such fire drills shall be conducted often enough to keep such pupils well drilled. It shall be the further duty of such principals and teachers to instruct the pupils in all programs of emergency management as may be designated by the State Department of Education.
(2) It shall be the further duty of such principals and teachers to develop and conduct an active shooter drill within the first sixty (60) days of each new school semester for students, teachers and staff.
SECTION 14. (1) There is created the Mississippi School Safety Task Force for the purpose of the continual study of ensuring and enhancing safe school environments for students, teachers and staff in Mississippi, and the implementation of best practices for prevention and response.
(2) The task force shall be composed of the following twenty-five (25) members:
(a) The Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, who shall serve as the Chairman;
(b) The Chairmen of the Education Committees of the House of Representatives and Senate;
(c) The Chairmen of the Judiciary A Committees of the House of Representatives and Senate;
(d) The State Superintendent of Public Education;
(e) The Executive Director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency;
(f) The Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health;
(g) The Director of the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security;
(h) The Director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics;
(i) The Director of the Mississippi Highway Patrol (Assistant Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety);
(j) The Executive Director of the Mississippi Wireless Communication Commission;
(k) The Director of the Office of Safe and Orderly Schools within the State Department of Education;
(l) A representative from the Office of the Governor;
(m) The Attorney General;
(n) Four (4) law enforcement officers, one selected from each Congressional district, and two (2) of whom shall be a county sheriff, and two (2) of whom shall be a municipal police chief, who shall be appointed by the Commissioner;
(o) A school superintendent, appointed by the Governor,
from the state-at-large;
(p) A representative of the Mississippi School Board Association;
(q) A school resource officer, appointed by the Governor, from the state-at-large;
(r) A student representative, appointed by the State Superintendent of Public Education, from the state-at-large;
(s) A parent representative, appointed by the State Superintendent of Public Education, from the state-at-large; and
(t) A representative of the Mississippi Association of School Superintendents.
(3) The members of the task force shall be appointed within thirty (30) days of the effective date of this act. Any vacancy in the task force shall not affect its powers, but shall be filled as prescribed in subsection (1) of this section. The task force shall hold its first meeting within sixty (60) days of the effective date of this act, on a call of the commissioner, as chairman of the task force. A majority of the membership of the task force shall constitute a quorum, and shall meet at the call of the chairman. All members must be notified in writing of all meetings at least five (5) days before the date on which a meeting of the task force is scheduled.
(4) Members of the task force shall receive a per diem in the amount provided in Section 25-3-69 for each day engaged in the business of the task force. Members of the task force, other than the legislative members, shall receive reimbursement for travel expenses incurred while engaged in official business of the task force in accordance with Section 25-3-41 and the legislative members of the task force shall receive the expense allowance provided for in Section 5-1-47.
(5) The task force shall report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature annually not later than December 1 each year.
SECTION 15. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024, and shall stand repealed on June 30, 2024.