Requires Commissioner of Education to review school safety and security plans.

A245

ASSEMBLY, No. 245

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman JOHN V. AZZARITI JR., M.D.

District 39 (Bergen)

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires Commissioner of Education to review school
safety and security plans.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
concerning school safety and security plans.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� a.� No later than six
months following the effective date of this act, each board of education shall
submit a copy of its most recent districtwide school safety and security plan
to the Commissioner of Education for review.� The commissioner may direct a
specific school district to submit its plan at any point during that timeframe,
and may prioritize a school district that has not voluntarily submitted its
plan to the commissioner for review within the prior two school years.

���� b.��� The commissioner shall
review each school district�s plan.� The commissioner�s review shall include,
but need not be limited to, the following factors:

���� (1)� that the list of
individuals to be notified in the event of an emergency is current;

���� (2)� faculty and staff have
been assigned primary and alternate responsibilities for addressing an
emergency situation;

���� (3)� documentation of the
written procedures regarding building access and visitor policies;

���� (4)� that policies exist
regarding bullying prevention and character education;

���� (5)� a comprehensive hazard
analysis has been completed;

���� (6)� that procedures and
protocols for active shooter situations, bomb threats, and lockdowns have been
established; and

���� (7)� crisis communication
procedures for interacting with, as appropriate, emergency responders, faculty
and staff, students, parents, and the media have been developed.

���� c.��� The commissioner shall
submit a written report to each board of education summarizing the results of
the review.� The report shall detail any weaknesses identified during the
review and provide recommended solutions.� In order to expedite the submission of
the reviews� results to boards of education, the commissioner shall complete
and submit the reports to school districts on a rolling basis.

���� d.��� No later than three
years following the effective date of this act, the commissioner shall submit
to the Governor, and to the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991,
c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), a report summarizing the results of the reviews performed
pursuant to this section.� The report shall summarize the results in the
aggregate and shall not include information specific to an individual school
district.

���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.

STATEMENT

���� Pursuant to State Board of
Education regulations at N.J.A.C.6A:16-5.1, each school district must develop
and annually update a districtwide school safety and security plan.� Currently,
a school district may submit its plan to the Department of Education�s Office
of School Preparedness and Emergency Planning for review.� Under this bill, all
school districts would be required to, no later than six months following the
effective date, submit the plan to the Commissioner of Education.� The
commissioner will review districts� plans and submit a written report to each
district that details any weaknesses that have been identified and recommend
solutions.� No later than three years following the bill�s effective date, the
commissioner would be required to submit a report to the Governor and
Legislature summarizing the results of the reviews.