Read the full stored bill text
A BILL to amend and reenact §
22.1-279.8
of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Article 2 of Chapter 8 of Title 23.1 a section numbered
23.1-808.3
, relating to public elementary and secondary schools and public institutions of higher education; certain federal immigration investigation and enforcement activities; certain notifications and prohibitions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §
22.1-279.8
of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted and that the Code of Virginia is amended by adding in Article 2 of Chapter 8 of Title 23.1 a section numbered
23.1-808.3
as follows:
§
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 (i) those incidents reported to school authorities pursuant to §
22.1-279.3:1
; (ii) 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; and (iii) specific technology systems, including physical security technologies, emergency telecommunication systems, and associated technology including equipment and software.
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. In addition, a component of each such audit shall include a review of the school's comprehensive plan for closures during public health emergencies.
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. The division superintendent or his designee and the school safety audit committee may meet annually on the grounds of any public school in the local school division with the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality or a designee from the local law-enforcement agency to discuss the school safety audit completed for such school.
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
, and the notific
ation of the presence of
certain individuals
on school property
for
immigration investigation or enforcement purposes
as required pursuant to this subsection
. 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.
Each such written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan shall include
:
1.
A
requirement that
w
henever
the
division superintendent confirms
that an individual is present on the property of a
public elementary or secondary school in the school division
to investigate
compliance with
, enforce, or assist
in the investigation
for compliance with
or enforcement of any federal civil immigration law or any federal criminal immigration law that penalizes a
n individual's
presence in, entry or reentry
in
to, or employment in the United States
, each schoo
l board employee at such school and the parents of each student enrolled in such school shall be notified
of such presence
,
subject to the following conditions:
a
. T
he content and timing of
such
notification shall consider the safety and
well
-
being of all such students and school board employees
;
b
. N
o such notification
shall contain any personally identifiable information
;
and
c
. A
ny
such notification
may include
link
s
to additional resources for
the parents of enrolled students
with information about their educational rights
and
state
and federal
laws that protect parents
'
and students
'
privacy and confidentiality
; and
2.
A prohibition
against any individual present on
the property of a public elementary or secondary school in the school division
to investigate compliance with, enforce, or assist in the investigation for compliance with or enforcement of any federal civil immigration law or any federal criminal immigration law that penalizes an individual's presence in, entry or reentry into, or employment in the United States from accessing any nonpublic area of
such school property
without a warrant
signed by a judge or magistrate
.
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
; and by which the notification of the presence of
certain individuals
on school property
for immigration investigatio
n or enforcement purposes
is made as required pursuant to this subsection
.
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. 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.
§
23.1-808.3
.
P
resence of individuals on campus for
immigration investigation
or enforcement purposes
; notification; judic
ial warrant required in certain circumstances
.
A.
Each public institution of higher education shall
notify all
students, faculty,
and staff
whenever
the institution confirms that an individual is present on
campus
to investigate compliance with, enforce, or assist in the investigation for compliance with or enforcement of any federal civil immigration law or any federal criminal immigration law that penalizes an individual's presence in, entry or reentry into, or employment in the United States, subject to the following conditions
and requirements
:
1.
S
uch notification shall
include the date, time, and location of such prese
nce on campus
;
2. No such notification shall contain any personally identifiable information; and
3. Any such notification may include links to additional resources for students with information about their educational rights
and
state and federal laws that protect students' privacy and confidentiality.
B. Each public institution of higher education shall adopt and implement a policy that prohibits any
individual
present on campus to investigate compliance with, enforce, or assist in the investigation for compliance with or enforcement of any federal civil immigration law or any federal criminal immigration law that penalizes an individual's presence in, entry or reentry into, or employment in the United States
from accessing any nonpublic area of campus without a
warrant
signed by a judge or magistrate
.
2. That each local school board and each public institution of higher education shall, no later than July 1, 2027, adopt or amend such plans or policies as may be necessary to fully implement the provisions of this act.