CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT
SENATE BILL 5647
Chapter 21, Laws of 2024
68th Legislature
2024 Regular Session
SCHOOL SAFETY—TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES
EFFECTIVE DATE: June 6, 2024
Passed by the Senate January 31, 2024 CERTIFICATE
Yeas 46 Nays 0
I, Sarah Bannister, Secretary of
the Senate of the State of
DENNY HECK Washington, do hereby certify that
President of the Senate the attached is SENATE BILL 5647 as
passed by the Senate and the House
of Representatives on the dates
hereon set forth.
Passed by the House February 27, 2024
Yeas 95 Nays 0
SARAH BANNISTER
LAURIE JINKINS Secretary
Speaker of the House of
Representatives
Approved March 13, 2024 11:08 AM FILED
March 14, 2024
Secretary of State
JAY INSLEE State of Washington
Governor of the State of Washington
 SENATE BILL 5647
Passed Legislature - 2024 Regular Session
State of Washington 68th Legislature 2023 Regular Session
By Senators Torres, Conway, King, Lovelett, C. Wilson, and J. Wilson
Read first time 01/31/23. Referred to Committee on Early Learning &
K-12 Education.
1 AN ACT Relating to providing substitute teachers and other
2 temporary employees necessary information about school safety
3 policies and procedures; and amending RCW 28A.320.125 and
4 28A.300.630.
5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
6 Sec. 1. RCW 28A.320.125 and 2022 c 77 s 1 are each amended to
7 read as follows:
8 (1) The legislature considers it to be a matter of public safety
9 for public schools and staff to have current safe school plans and
10 procedures in place, fully consistent with federal law. The
11 legislature further finds and intends, by requiring safe school plans
12 to be in place, that school districts will become eligible for
13 federal assistance. The legislature further finds that schools are in
14 a position to serve the community in the event of an emergency
15 resulting from natural disasters or human-induced disasters.
16 (2) Schools and school districts shall consider the guidance and
17 resources provided by the state school safety center, established
18 under RCW 28A.300.630, and the regional school safety centers,
19 established under RCW 28A.310.510, when developing their own
20 individual comprehensive safe school plans. Each school district
21 shall adopt and implement a safe school plan. The plan shall:
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 1 (a) Include required school safety policies and procedures;
2 (b) Address emergency mitigation, preparedness, response, and
3 recovery;
4 (c) Include provisions for assisting and communicating with
5 students and staff, including those with special needs or
6 disabilities;
7 (d) Include a family-student reunification plan, including
8 procedures for communicating the reunification plan to staff,
9 students, families, and emergency responders;
10 (e) Use the training guidance provided by the Washington
11 emergency management division of the state military department in
12 collaboration with the state school safety center in the office of
13 the superintendent of public instruction, established under RCW
14 28A.300.630, and the school safety and student well-being advisory
15 committee, established under RCW 28A.300.635;
16 (f) Require the building principal to be certified on the
17 incident command system;
18 (g) Take into account the manner in which the school facilities
19 may be used as a community asset in the event of a community-wide
20 emergency; ((and))
21 (h) Set guidelines for requesting city or county law enforcement
22 agencies, local fire departments, emergency service providers, and
23 county emergency management agencies to meet with school districts
24 and participate in safety-related drills; and
25 (i) Include how substitute teachers and other temporary employees
26 receive necessary information about safe school plans, including
27 school safety policies and procedures and the three basic functional
28 drill responses described in subsection (5) of this section.
29 (3) To the extent funds are available, school districts shall
30 annually:
31 (a) Review and update safe school plans in collaboration with
32 local emergency response agencies;
33 (b) Conduct an inventory of all hazardous materials;
34 (c) Update information to reflect current plans, including:
35 (i) Identifying all staff members who are trained on the national
36 incident management system, trained on the incident command system,
37 or are certified on the incident command system; and
38 (ii) Identifying school transportation procedures for evacuation,
39 to include bus staging areas, evacuation routes, communication
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 1 systems, parent-student reunification sites, and secondary
2 transportation agreements; and
3 (d) Provide information to all staff on the use of emergency
4 supplies and notification and alert procedures.
5 (4) School districts are encouraged to work with local emergency
6 management agencies and other emergency responders to conduct one
7 tabletop exercise, one functional exercise, and two full-scale
8 exercises within a four-year period.
9 (5)(a) Due to geographic location, schools have unique safety
10 challenges. It is the responsibility of school principals and
11 administrators to assess the threats and hazards most likely to
12 impact their school, and to practice three basic functional drills,
13 shelter-in-place, lockdown, and evacuation, as these drills relate to
14 those threats and hazards. Some threats or hazards may require the
15 use of more than one basic functional drill.
16 (b) Schools shall conduct at least one safety-related drill per
17 month, including summer months when school is in session with
18 students. These drills must teach students three basic functional
19 drill responses:
20 (i) "Shelter-in-place," used to limit the exposure of students
21 and staff to hazardous materials, such as chemical, biological, or
22 radiological contaminants, released into the environment by isolating
23 the inside environment from the outside;
24 (ii) "Lockdown," used to isolate students and staff from threats
25 of violence, such as suspicious trespassers or armed intruders, that
26 may occur in a school or in the vicinity of a school. Lockdown drills
27 may not include live simulations of or reenactments of active shooter
28 scenarios that are not trauma-informed and age and developmentally
29 appropriate; and
30 (iii) "Evacuation," used to move students and staff away from
31 threats, such as fires, oil train spills, lahars, or tsunamis.
32 (c) The drills described in (b) of this subsection must
33 incorporate the following requirements:
34 (i) A pedestrian evacuation drill for schools in mapped lahars or
35 tsunami hazard zones; and
36 (ii) An earthquake drill using the state-approved earthquake
37 safety technique "drop, cover, and hold."
38 (d) Schools shall document the date, time, and type (shelter-in-
39 place, lockdown, or evacuate) of each drill required under this
40 subsection (5), and maintain the documentation in the school office.
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 1 (e) This subsection (5) is intended to satisfy all federal
2 requirements for comprehensive school emergency drills and
3 evacuations.
4 (6) Educational service districts are encouraged to apply for
5 federal emergency response and crisis management grants with the
6 assistance of the superintendent of public instruction and the
7 Washington emergency management division of the state military
8 department.
9 (7) The superintendent of public instruction may adopt rules to
10 implement provisions of this section. These rules may include, but
11 are not limited to, provisions for evacuations, lockdowns, or other
12 components of a comprehensive safe school plan.
13 (8)(a) Whenever a first responder agency notifies a school of a
14 situation that may necessitate an evacuation or lockdown, the agency
15 must determine if other known schools in the vicinity are similarly
16 threatened. The first responder agency must notify every other known
17 school in the vicinity for which an evacuation or lockdown appears
18 reasonably necessary to the agency's incident commander unless the
19 agency is unable to notify schools due to duties directly tied to
20 responding to the incident occurring. For purposes of this
21 subsection, "school" includes a private school under chapter 28A.195
22 RCW.
23 (b) A first responder agency and its officers, agents, and
24 employees are not liable for any act, or failure to act, under this
25 subsection unless a first responder agency and its officers, agents,
26 and employees acted with willful disregard.
27 Sec. 2. RCW 28A.300.630 and 2019 c 333 s 2 are each amended to
28 read as follows:
29 (1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this
30 specific purpose, the superintendent of public instruction shall
31 establish a school safety center as provided in this section.
32 (2) The center, working in conjunction with the regional school
33 safety centers established in RCW 28A.310.510, forms a statewide
34 network for school safety.
35 (3) The center, in collaboration with staff in the office of the
36 superintendent of public instruction, must:
37 (a) Serve as a clearinghouse for information regarding
38 comprehensive school safety planning and practice;
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 1 (b) Disseminate information regarding school safety incidents in
2 Washington and across the country;
3 (c) Develop and maintain a public website to increase the
4 availability of information, research, and other materials related to
5 school safety;
6 (d) Serve as the lead school safety center, and work in
7 conjunction with the regional school safety centers, to support
8 school districts' efforts to meet state requirements regarding school
9 safety including the development and implementation of:
10 (i) Comprehensive safe school plans as required by RCW
11 28A.320.125; and
12 (ii) Plans for recognition, initial screening, and response to
13 emotional or behavioral distress in students as required by RCW
14 28A.320.127;
15 (e) Develop model school safety policies and procedures and
16 identify best practices in school safety, including how substitute
17 teachers and other temporary employees receive necessary information
18 about school safety policies and procedures;
19 (f) Work in conjunction with the regional school safety centers
20 to plan for the provision of school safety trainings and to provide
21 technical assistance;
22 (g) Hold an annual school safety summit as required by RCW
23 28A.300.273;
24 (h) Support the required activities of the regional school safety
25 centers, established in RCW 28A.310.510; and
26 (i) Perform other functions consistent with the purpose of the
27 center, as described in this section.
Passed by the Senate January 31, 2024.
Passed by the House February 27, 2024.
Approved by the Governor March 13, 2024.
Filed in Office of Secretary of State March 14, 2024.
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Statutes affected:
Original Bill: 28A.320.125, 28A.300.630
Bill as Passed Legislature: 28A.320.125, 28A.300.630
Session Law: 28A.320.125, 28A.300.630