ON APRIL 6, 2023, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENTS #2 AND 3, AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 322, AS AMENDED.
AMENDMENT #2 rewrites this bill to revise various provisions of present law pertaining to elementary and secondary education and the Schools Against Violence in Education Act.
STATE-LEVEL SAFETY TEAM
Under present law, the commissioner of education must establish a state-level safety team to assist LEAs and schools with compliance with the requirements of the SAVE Act. As part of the assistance, the state-level safety team must publish a template for use by districts in preparing their district-level safety plans and building-level emergency response plans, which template must outline the responsibilities of the LEAs and individual schools in complying. The state-level safety team must regularly review and update the template. The commissioner must appoint the members of the safety team, including a representative of each of the following:
(1) The department of safety;
(2) TBI;
(3) Homeland security;
(4) The department of mental health and substance abuse services;
(5) The emergency medical services of the department of health;
(6) The state board of education;
(7) The Tennessee association of school resource officers; and
(8) The department of intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Present law authorizes, but does not require, the commissioner to appoint representatives of additional groups and cohorts to the state-level safety team.
This amendment requires the commissioner of safety, instead of the commissioner of education, to establish a state-level safety team. This amendment changes the member described in (1) to be a representative of the department of education. This amendment adds that the commissioner must appoint a representative of the Tennessee Sheriffs' Association, and a representative of the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police to the team.
This amendment transfers responsibility for directing the state-level safety team from the director of the Tennessee school safety center to the commissioner of safety.
ADOPTION OF COMPREHENSIVE PLANS
Under present law, each LEA must adopt a comprehensive district-wide school safety plan and building-level school safety plans regarding crisis intervention, emergency response and emergency management. The plans must be developed by a district-wide school safety team and a building-level school safety team and must follow the template developed by the state-level safety team. An LEA having only one school building must develop a single building-level school safety plan, which must also fulfill all requirements for development of a district-wide plan.
Any meeting concerning school security, the district-wide school safety plans or the building-level school safety plans is not subject to the open meetings laws. Though closed to the general public, reasonable notice must be provided to the general public prior to such a meeting. The board must not discuss or deliberate on any other issues or subjects during such a meeting. Each LEA must provide to the local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction the LEA's plans regarding school security, district-wide school safety plans and building-level school safety plans, as well as information, records, and plans that are related to school security.
This amendment extends the planning requirements to public charter schools and requires each LEA and public charter school to review each of the plans it adopts annually.
This amendment revises the provisions pertaining to the requirement that LEAs provide their plans to the local law enforcement agency to require that by July 1, 2023, and every July after, each LEA and public charter school provide the following to each local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction, the department of education, and the department of safety:
(1) The LEA's, and to the extent applicable, the public charter school's, district-wide school safety plan;
(2) The building-level school safety plan for each school in the LEA or each public charter school; and
(3) The floor plans for all school buildings within the LEA or used by the public charter school.
This amendment further requires that each LEA and public charter school provide the school safety plans to a law enforcement agency or other emergency response organization participating in an armed intruder drill. Upon the request of a local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction, the department of education, or the department of safety, the LEA or public charter school must provide any other plans, information, or records regarding school security.
Present law requires each LEA to file a copy of its district-wide comprehensive safety plan with the commissioner. This amendment adds that LEAs must also file copies of each building-level school safety plan with the commissioner.
This amendment requires that during a drill or an emergency, each LEA or public charter school, to the extent possible, must provide a responding law enforcement agency with access to security systems that may be required for the agency's response.
This amendment also extends the requirements for plan adoption, annual plan review, and submission of plans to local law enforcement agencies, as well as law enforcement agencies and other emergency response organizations participating in an armed intruder drill, to private schools and church-related schools. This amendment does not require private and church-related schools to follow the state-level safety team's template when developing a plan, or to make the disclosures described in (1)-(3).
TEMPLATE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
Present law specifies nine components that the state-level safety team must include in its template. This amendment adds that the template must include policies and procedures to ensure that all individuals providing direct services to students or school staff in response to a school crisis have received the appropriate background checks in compliance with state law.
ANNUAL DRILLS
Present law requires each school safety team to conduct at least one armed intruder drill annually. The drill must be conducted in coordination with the appropriate local law enforcement agency. The results of the drill must be maintained by each school for a minimum of five years and must be made available to the department of education upon request.
This amendment replaces present law to require that each school safety team, private school, and church related school annually conduct at least one:
(1) Armed intruder drill, conducted in coordination with the appropriate local law enforcement agency;
(2) Incident command drill without students present to prepare school staff and law enforcement agencies on what to expect in the event of an emergency situation in the school; and
(3) Emergency safety bus drill without students present to prepare school staff and law enforcement agencies on what to expect in the event of an emergency situation on a school bus.
This amendment requires that the results of a drill conducted must be maintained by the school for a minimum of five years and must be made available to a local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction, the department of education, or the department of safety upon request.
SCHOOL BUILDING ENTRANCES
This amendment requires that each LEA, public charter school, private school, and church-related school must ensure that all exterior doors leading into a school building are locked at all times and access to school buildings is limited to the school's primary entrance, unless otherwise determined by school policy, to prevent unauthorized entry into the school building while students are present during the school day as well as when students are present outside of regular school hours for school-related purposes or activities.
Outside of regular school hours, an LEA, public charter school, private school, or church-related school may allow a school to unlock the door to the school building's primary entrance during a school-related event or activity if the door is continuously monitored by a school or LEA employee who is physically present at the door to ensure access is limited to only authorized persons and to alert others if an unauthorized person enters, or attempts to enter, the school building.
This amendment authorizes state and local law enforcement personnel to inspect a door serving as an entrance to, or exit from, an LEA or public charter school building to determine whether the door is locked as required. There is no limit on the number of inspections law enforcement personnel may conduct.
Except as provided by the exception described above for events and activities occurring outside of regular hours, if law enforcement personnel find that the door to an entrance or exit from a school building is unlocked, then the school must immediately lock the door and the law enforcement agency that found the unlocked door must, within 24 hours, send written notification to:
(1) The LEA's director of schools or the leader of the public charter school;
(2) The chair of the local board of education or public charter school governing body;
(3) The head of the parent-teacher organization for the LEA or public charter school, if any;
(4) The school principal;
(5) The department of safety;
(6) The department of education; and
(7) Each local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction.
This amendment requires that within 48 hours of receiving notification from the law enforcement agency, the LEA's director of schools, the leader of the public charter school, or their respective designees must send written confirmation to the notifying law enforcement agency that the door was immediately locked as required and that processes are in place to ensure that the door remains locked as required. The director, leader, or designee must send a copy of the director's, leader's, or designee's written confirmation to the recipients identified in (2) - (7). The director's, leader's, or designee's written confirmation must state whether the LEA or public charter school has a full-time school resource officer whose primary location is the school found to be in violation of the door locking requirement.
This amendment provides that if a school is found to have violated the requirement that doors are locked at all times and access is limited on two or more occasions in one school year, then:
(1) (A) If the LEA or public charter school does not currently have a school resource officer whose primary location is the school found to have violated on two or more occasions in one school year, the LEA or public charter school must cause a full-time school resource officer or armed school security officer (collectively referred to as "officer") to be posted at the school. The LEA or public charter school must bear the cost of posting the officer. The officer must be posted at the school within 30 days from the date on which the LEA or public charter school received notification of the school's second violation. The LEA or public charter school must notify the commissioner of education that the required officer is posted. If the LEA or public charter school fails to have an officer posted within 30 days, then the LEA or public charter school must submit a letter to the commissioner of education every 30 days that an officer is not posted explaining why the LEA or public charter school has not had an officer posted; and
(B) If the department of education receives notice of a subsequent violation by the school in one school year, the commissioner will be required to withhold state funds from the LEA or public charter school, in either the current or upcoming school year, based on a sliding scale that ranges from 2 percent of the annual state funds generated by the school in the TISA for a third violation committed by a school in one school year to 10 percent of the annual state funds generated by the school in the TISA for a seventh violation committed by a school in one school year; or
(2) If the LEA or public charter school currently has a full-time officer whose primary location is the school found to have violated the door locking requirements on two or more occasions, this amendment requires the commissioner to withhold state funds from the LEA or public charter school, in either the current or upcoming school year, based on a sliding scale that ranges from 2 percent of the annual state funds generated by the school in the TISA for a second violation committed by a school in one school year to 10 percent of the annual state funds generated by the school in the TISA for a sixth violation committed by a school in one school year.
This amendment requires that if funds are withheld for a violation, then the funds must be withheld until:
(1) The LEA or public charter school has the required officer posted at the school; and
(2) The LEA or public charter school submits to the department of education, and receives the department's approval of, a corrective action plan. The full text of this amendment specifies components that a corrective action plan must include.
This amendment requires that the percentage of any funds withheld for a violation must be calculated by the department of education based on the amount of state funds generated by the school in the TISA for the previous school year. If a public charter school did not generate funds in the previous school year, then the percentage withheld must be based on the average amount of state funds generated in the LEA in which the public charter school is located.
ANNUAL REPORT
Present law requires the commissioner of education to annually report to the governor and the general assembly on the SAVE Act. This amendment requires the commissioner of education and commissioner of safety to jointly make the annual report.
NEWLY CONSTRUCTED SCHOOL BUILDING
This amendment requires that a public school building constructed or remodeled after July 1, 2023, must:
(1) Include a door-locking mechanism on each classroom door that allows the classroom door to be locked from the inside; and
(2) At least one secure vestibule that serves as the primary entrance to the school building and that contains two separate sets of doors that are each capable of being locked separately to prevent a person from entering the school building until an LEA or school employee authorizes a person to enter.
This amendment clarifies that if a school building is being remodeled, (1) and (2) only apply to the portions of the building that are remodeled.
This amendment provides that the date on which a public school building is constructed is the date on which the plans for the school building were approved by the agency having jurisdiction to approve construction of the building or the date on which the construction permit was issued for the building, whichever occurs first.
THREAT ASSESSMENT TEAM
This amendment makes mandatory the present law authorization for each LEA to adopt a policy to establish a threat assessment team within the LEA.
Present law specifies nine duties of a threat assessment team. This amendment adds that a threat assessment team must coordinate with state agencies providing support services and technical assistance to local threat assessment teams.
Under present law, a threat assessment team must report threat assessment team activities to the local board of education and the director of schools on a regular basis. The report must include quantitative data on threat assessment team activities, including post-incident assessments, and must provide information on the effectiveness of the team's response to incidents deemed to pose a risk to school safety. The report must comply with the FERPA and all other relevant state and federal privacy laws. This amendment requires the team to also report threat assessment team activities to the department of safety, the Tennessee school safety center, and the members of the state-level safety team.
TENNESSEE SCHOOL SAFETY CENTER
Present law requires the department of education to establish a Tennessee school safety center to develop and evaluate training materials and guidelines on school safety issues, including behavior, discipline and violence prevention. This amendment requires that the department of education collaborate with the department of safety in the establishment of the center.
Present law requires the department of safety, in collaboration with the department of education, to develop a school security assessment for use in Tennessee public schools. The departments must provide training to local law enforcement agencies and school administrators on the use of the school security assessment to identify school security vulnerabilities. The department of safety is authorized to conduct periodic audits of Tennessee public schools as necessary to verify the effective implementation and use of such assessments to enhance school security. This amendment adds a requirement that each LEA and public charter school submit to the department of safety an annual school security self-assessment for each school that uses the school security assessment.
CONFIDENTIAL RECORDS
Under present law, information, records, and plans that are related to school security, the district-wide school safety plans or the building-level school safety plans are not open to public inspection. This must not be interpreted to prevent school administrators of an LEA from discussing or distributing information to parents or legal guardians of children attending the school regarding procedures for contacting or obtaining a child following a natural disaster.
This amendment adds that all school security reports, memoranda, plans, notes, threats, and procedures, including drafts that are incorporated in reports created or received by the department of safety, must be treated as confidential and are not open for inspection by members of the general public. However, this does not limit access to those records by law enforcement agencies, courts, or other governmental agencies performing official functions.
This amendment specifies that school building floor plans provided by LEAs to the commissioner pursuant to the SAVE Act are not public records.
PRIVATE PROTECTIVE SERVICES LICENSING AND REGULATORY ACT
TRAINING AND EXAMINATION OF APPLICANTS
Under present law, a government officer or employee performing official duties is exempt from the licensure, registration, and regulatory requirements for security companies and guards.
This amendment limits the exemption by making the exemption inapplicable to a security guard or security officer who is providing security or patrol services at or in a public school.
Under present law, within 15 days of employment, an unarmed security guard/officer applicant must complete general training and pass an examination and an armed security guard/officer applicant must complete general training, pass an examination, and complete firearms training within 60 days of employment.
This amendment adds that an ind