Bill Text: VA HB482 | 2024 | Regular Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: School employees; reports of certain arrests and convictions.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-02-13 - Left in Education [HB482 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-HB482-Prefiled.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§19.2-83.1, 19.2-291.1, 19.2-299.3, and 22.1-279.8 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§19.2-83.1. Report of arrest of school employees and adult students for certain offenses.
A. Every state official or agency and every sheriff, police officer, or other local law-enforcement officer or conservator of the peace having the power to arrest for a felony, upon arresting a person who is known or discovered by the arresting official to be a full-time, part-time, permanent, or temporary teacher or any other employee in any local school division in the Commonwealth for a felony or a Class 1 misdemeanor or an equivalent offense in another state, shall file a report of such arrest with the division safety official designated pursuant to subsection F of § 22.1-279.8 in the school division in which such person is employed as soon as practicable but no later than 48 hours after such arrest. The contents of the report required pursuant to this subsection shall be utilized by the local school division solely to implement the provisions of subsection B of § 22.1-296.2 and §22.1-315.
B. The report required pursuant to subsection A shall be
transmitted to the division safety official (i) via certified mail, return
receipt requested, to the mailing address identified by the division
superintendent pursuant to subsection F of §22.1-279.8 or (ii) via fax and email to the fax number and email address
identified by the division superintendent pursuant to subsection F of §
22.1-279.8. Any certified mail return receipt shall be retained in the case
file.
C. (Expires July 1, 2027) In the event that the law-enforcement agency has existing access to Virginia Employment Commission records, each arresting official shall request in writing that the Virginia Employment Commission provide the name of the current employer of each person arrested for an offense set forth in §9.1-902 for purposes of determining whether a report is required pursuant to subsection A.
D. Every state official or agency and every sheriff, police officer, or other local law-enforcement officer or conservator of the peace having the power to arrest for a felony shall file a report, as soon as practicable, with the division superintendent of the school division in which the student is enrolled upon arresting a person who is known or discovered by the arresting official to be a student age 18 or older in any local school division in the Commonwealth for:
1. A firearm offense pursuant to Article 4 (§18.2-279 et seq.), 5 (§18.2-288 et seq.), 6 (§18.2-299 et seq.), 6.1 (§18.2-307.1 et seq.), or 7 (§18.2-308.1 et seq.) of Chapter 7 of Title 18.2;
2. Homicide, pursuant to Article 1 (§18.2-30 et seq.) of Chapter 4 of Title 18.2;
3. Felonious assault and bodily wounding, pursuant to Article 4 (§18.2-51 et seq.) of Chapter 4 of Title 18.2;
4. Criminal sexual assault, pursuant to Article 7 (§18.2-61 et seq.) of Chapter 4 of Title 18.2;
5. Manufacture, sale, gift, distribution or possession of Schedule I or II controlled substances, pursuant to Article 1 (§18.2-247 et seq.) of Chapter 7 of Title 18.2;
6. Manufacture, sale or distribution of marijuana pursuant to Article 1 (§18.2-247 et seq.) of Chapter 7 of Title 18.2;
7. Arson and related crimes, pursuant to Article 1 (§18.2-77 et seq.) of Chapter 5 of Title 18.2;
8. Burglary and related offenses, pursuant to §§18.2-89 through 18.2-93;
9. Robbery pursuant to §18.2-58;
10. Prohibited criminal street gang activity pursuant to § 18.2-46.2;
11. Recruitment of juveniles for criminal street gang pursuant to §18.2-46.3;
12. An act of violence by a mob pursuant to §18.2-42.1; or
13. Abduction of any person pursuant to §18.2-47 or 18.2-48.
§19.2-291.1. Report of conviction of school employees for certain offenses.
A. The clerk of any circuit court or any district court in the Commonwealth shall report to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the division safety official designated pursuant to subsection F of §22.1-279.8 in the local school division in which the person is employed a felony conviction of any person known by such clerk to be employed by such local school division as soon as practicable but no later than seven days after the order convicting the defendant is signed.
B. The report required pursuant to subsection A shall be
transmitted to the division safety official (i) via certified mail, return
receipt requested, to the mailing address identified by the division
superintendent pursuant to subsection F of §22.1-279.8 or (ii) via fax and email to the fax number and email address
identified by the division superintendent pursuant to subsection F of §
22.1-279.8. Any certified mail return receipt shall be retained in the case
file.
§19.2-299.3. Report of arrest and conviction of school employees by probation and parole officers for certain offenses.
A. Any probation and parole officer who is supervising a person employed by a local school division in the Commonwealth, upon discovering that such supervised person has been arrested for or convicted of a felony offense or an equivalent offense in another state, shall report such arrest or conviction to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the division safety official designated pursuant to subsection F of §22.1-279.8 in the local school division in which such supervised person is employed as soon as practicable but no later than 48 hours after such arrest or conviction.
B. The report required pursuant to subsection A shall be transmitted
to the division safety official (i) via certified mail, return receipt
requested, to the mailing address identified by the division superintendent
pursuant to subsection F of §22.1-279.8 or (ii) via fax
and email to the fax number and
email address identified by the division superintendent pursuant to subsection
F of §22.1-279.8. Any certified mail return receipt shall be retained in the
case file.
§22.1-279.8. School safety audits and school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans required.
A. For the purposes of this section, unless the context requires otherwise:
"School crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan" means the essential procedures, operations, and assignments required to prevent, manage, and respond to a critical event or emergency, including natural disasters involving fire, flood, tornadoes, or other severe weather; loss or disruption of power, water, communications or shelter; bus or other accidents; medical emergencies, including cardiac arrest and other life-threatening medical emergencies; student or staff member deaths; explosions; bomb threats; gun, knife or other weapons threats; spills or exposures to hazardous substances; the presence of unauthorized persons or trespassers; the loss, disappearance or kidnapping of a student; hostage situations; violence on school property or at school activities; incidents involving acts of terrorism; and other incidents posing a serious threat of harm to students, personnel, or facilities. The plan shall include a provision that the Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund shall be contacted immediately to deploy assistance in the event of an emergency as defined in the emergency response plan when there are victims as defined in §19.2-11.01. The Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund shall be the lead coordinating agencies for those individuals determined to be victims, and the plan shall also contain current contact information for both agencies.
"School safety audit" means a written assessment of the safety conditions in each public school to (i) identify and, if necessary, develop solutions for physical safety concerns, including building security issues, and (ii) identify and evaluate any patterns of student safety concerns occurring on school property or at school-sponsored events. Solutions and responses shall include recommendations for structural adjustments, changes in school safety procedures, and revisions to the school board's standards for student conduct.
B. The Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, in consultation with the Department of Education, shall develop a list of items to be reviewed and evaluated in the school safety audits required by this section. Such items shall include those incidents reported to school authorities pursuant to §22.1-279.3:1 and shall include a school inspection walk-through using a standardized checklist provided by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, which shall incorporate crime prevention through environmental design principles.
The Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety shall prescribe a standardized report format for school safety audits, additional reporting criteria, and procedures for report submission, which may include instructions for electronic submission.
Each local school board shall require all schools under its supervisory control to annually conduct school safety audits, as defined in this section, consistent with such list and in collaboration with the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality or his designee. As part of each such audit, the school board shall create a detailed and accurate floor plan for each public school building in the local school division or shall certify that the existing floor plan for each such school is sufficiently detailed and accurate.
The results of such school safety audits shall be made public within 90 days of completion pursuant to this subsection. The local school board shall retain authority to withhold or limit the release of any security plans, walk-through checklists, floor plans, and specific vulnerability assessment components as provided in subdivision 4 of §2.2-3705.2. The completed walk-through checklist shall be made available to the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality or his designee. Each school shall maintain a copy of the school safety audit, which may exclude such security plans, walk-through checklists, and vulnerability assessment components, within the office of the school principal and shall make a copy of such report available for review upon written request.
Each school shall submit a copy of its school safety audit to the relevant school division superintendent. The division superintendent shall collate and submit all such school safety audits, in the prescribed format and manner of submission, to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety and shall make available to the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality the results of such audits for his review and recommendations.
C. The division superintendent shall establish a school safety audit committee to include, if available, representatives of parents, teachers, local law-enforcement, emergency services agencies, local community services boards, and judicial and public safety personnel. The school safety audit committee shall review the completed school safety audits and submit any plans, as needed, for improving school safety to the division superintendent for submission to the local school board.
D. Each school board shall ensure that every school that it supervises shall develop a written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan, consistent with the definition provided in this section, and shall include the chief law-enforcement officer, the fire chief, the chief of the emergency medical services agency, the executive director of the relevant regional emergency medical services council, and the emergency management official of the locality, or their designees, in the development of such plans. Each school division shall designate an emergency manager. The Department of Education and the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety shall provide technical assistance to the school divisions of the Commonwealth in the development of the school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans that describe the components of a medical emergency response plan developed in coordination with local emergency medical services providers, the training of school personnel and students to respond to a life-threatening emergency, and the equipment required for this emergency response. The local school board, the chief law-enforcement officer, the fire chief, the chief of the emergency medical services agency, the executive director of the relevant regional emergency medical services council, and the emergency management official of the locality, or their designees, shall annually review the written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans. The local school board shall have the authority to withhold or limit the review of any security plans and specific vulnerability assessment components as provided in subdivision 4 of §2.2-3705.2. The local school division superintendent shall certify this review in writing to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety no later than August 31 of each year.
Upon consultation with local school boards, division superintendents, the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, and the Coordinator of Emergency Management, the Board of Education shall develop, and may revise as it deems necessary, a model school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan for the purpose of assisting the public schools in the Commonwealth in developing viable, effective crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans. Such model shall set forth recommended effective procedures and means by which parents can contact the relevant school or school division regarding the location and safety of their school children and by which school officials may contact parents, with parental approval, during a critical event or emergency.
E. Each school board shall ensure that every public school it supervises employs at least one school administrator who has completed, either in-person or online, school safety training for public school personnel conducted by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety in accordance with subdivision A 1 of §9.1-184. However, such requirement shall not apply if such required training is not available online.
F. Each division superintendent shall annually designate an
employee in the local school division as the division safety official whose
duty is to receive all reports required pursuant to subsection A of §19.2-83.1
and §§19.2-291.1 and 19.2-299.3 and shall include such designation in the
collated packet of school safety audits submitted to the Virginia Center for
School and Campus Safety pursuant to subsection B. The designation required by
this subsection shall include updated contact information for the division
safety official, including (i) a current mailing address, (ii) a current
working daytime phone number, and (iii) a current functional email address, and (iv) a current functional fax number.
It shall be the duty of the division superintendent to update contact
information required by this subsection within 48 hours of any change to such
contact information.
