Local Education Agencies

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide information on the specific duration of a student’s removal or what happens if a safety plan cannot be reasonably developed.

School Safety Plan for Students with Protection Orders

This bill requires schools to create safety plans when an order of protection is issued between two students in the same school, and it mandates that one student be removed from shared classes or events.

What This Bill Does

• Requires a principal to remove a student named as the respondent in an order of protection from any classroom or event shared with another student who is protected by the order.
• Provides alternative instruction for the student who must leave shared activities due to the protection order.
• Involves parents and school safety teams in creating plans that separate students, report contact between them, document violations, and inform local law enforcement if needed.
• Requires parents of the protected student to notify the school within 48 hours of any changes to the protection order.

Who It Names or Affects

• Students who are named as respondents in orders of protection
• Students who are named as petitioners in orders of protection
• School principals and safety teams

Terms To Know

Order of Protection

A legal document that protects someone from another person by ordering them to stay away or stop certain behaviors.

Respondent

The person who is ordered to follow the rules in an order of protection.

Limits and Unknowns

• It does not specify what happens if a school safety plan cannot be reasonably developed.
• There are no details about how long the student must stay away from shared activities.

Official Summary Text

If an order of protection entered on or after the effective date of this bill is issued pursuant to law relative to domestic abuse, to protect a student who is enrolled in a public school in this state from another student who is enrolled in the same pub
lic school, then this bill requires the principal of the school in which both students are enrolled to remove the student who is named as the respondent in the order of protection from any classroom or school-sponsored event or activity shared with the st
ud
ent who is named as the petitioner in the order of protection. The school or school district must provide the student who is named as the respondent with alternative instruction for any class or course from which the student is removed. However, this bi
ll only requires a student's removal from a classroom or school-sponsored event or activity for the period of time for which an order of protection is in effect.

ON APRIL 2, 2026, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 2285, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 r
ewrites this bill to require that, in situations where

an order of protection is issued to protect a student who is enrolled in a public school in this state from another student who is enrolled in the same public school,
the school principal
and, when reasonably practicable and appropriate, the building-level school safety team with input from the parent or legal guardian of the student who is named as the petitioner in the order of protection
, must develop and implement a
student safety pla
n
that includes:

(
1) A protocol for providing a copy of the order of protection to school
a
dministration, campus security, or a school resource officer;

(2) A plan for the physical separation of the students named in the order of protection to the greatest extent possible
;

(3)
A protocol for students to report any contact between the petitioner and respondent to a counselor, principal, or other trusted staff member;

(4) A process for documenting any attempted contact by the student named as the respondent in the order of protection with the student named as the petitioner in the order of protection; and

(5) A protocol for the school principal or other school staff to contact and inform local law enforcement if a violation of the order of protection is suspected.

This amendment requires t
he parent or legal guardian of the student who is named as the petitioner in the order of protection
to
notify the school within 48 hours of any changes to the order of protection to allow the school principal and school safety team to revise the student safety plan as necessary.

Current Bill Text

SENATE BILL 2285
By Briggs

HOUSE BILL 1974
By White
HB1974
009577
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 36
and Title 49, relative to safety.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 3, is amended by
adding the following as a new section:
(a) If an order of protection is issued pursuant to title 36, chapter 3, part 6, to
protect a student who is enrolled in a public school in this state from another student
who is enrolled in the same public school, then the principal of the school in which both
students are enrolled shall remove the student who is named as the respondent in the
order of protection from any classroom or school-sponsored event or activity shared with
the student who is named as the petitioner in the order of protection.
(b) The school or school district shall provide the student who is named as the
respondent in the order of protection with alternative instruction for any class or course
from which the student is removed for purposes of this section. This section only
requires a student's removal from a classroom or school-sponsored event or activity for
the period of time for which an order of protection is in effect.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it,
and applies to orders of protection entered on or after such date.