SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
SENATE, No. 2057
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: DECEMBER 1, 2022
The Senate Education Committee favorably reports Senate Bill No. 2057 with committee amendments.
As amended by the committee, this bill provides that all students will fully participate in each fire drill or school security drill conducted by a school district or nonpublic school. It also requires that current staff training for school security include information on the unique needs of students with disabilities. The current drill guide and training materials that school districts and nonpublic schools use as guidance in their training for full-time employees would incorporate information on the unique needs of students with disabilities and include standard protocols and procedures for accommodating those students during drills and emergency situations.
Under current State law, schools are required to conduct one fire drill and one school security drill each month. All full-time employees in a school district and nonpublic school are required to undergo training on school safety and security, including instruction on school security drills. This training is required to use as guidance a drill guide and other training materials developed by the Director of the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, in consultation with a variety of other State government leaders.
Current law also requires individuals employed in a school district or nonpublic school in a substitute capacity to be provided with information and training on the district’s or nonpublic school’s practices and procedures on school safety and security including instruction on school security drills, evacuation procedures, and emergency response protocols. In addition, persons who supervise youth programs that are not sponsored by a school district or nonpublic school, but operate a program in a district or nonpublic school building before or after school hours, on the weekend, or during a period when school is not in session, are required to be provided information on school district or nonpublic school practices and procedures in the event of a school safety or security incident at a school.
This bill would require that, as part of the existing processes for developing individualized education programs, individualized health care plans, 504 plans, or service plans for students with disabilities enrolled in nonpublic schools, a student’s unique needs in the event of a fire drill or school security drill or an actual emergency situation be documented. If it is determined that a student would require supplementary supports, modifications, accommodations, or services in order to safely and fully participate in a fire drill or school security drill, a written plan will be included in a student’s individualized education program, individualized health care plan, 504 plan, or service plan. The written plan will: 1) describe the needs of the student during a fire or school security drill and during an actual emergency situation; 2) describe the supports, modifications, accommodations, and services to be provided to the student during a fire drill or school security drill and during an actual emergency situation; and 3) describe the role of school employees in supporting the student during a fire drill or school security drill and during an actual emergency situation, including the need for any specific training of school employees.
Finally, the bill requires that, in developing its districtwide school safety and security plan, a school district will demonstrate that it has considered and will incorporate the individual needs of each student with a disability into the districtwide school safety and security plan.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:
The committee amended the bill to:
1) require that any information or training provided under current law address the unique needs of students with disabilities in the event of a fire drill, school security drill, or actual emergency situation;
2) require full-time and substitute employees to be made aware of any anticipated mobility, sensory, medical, social, communication, emotional, regulatory, and decision-making support needs of students in the care of the employee and any supports, modifications, accommodations, and services to be provided to students, as enumerated in their individualized education programs, individualized health care plans, 504 plans, or service plans; and
3) make technical amendments to clarify that certain requirements of the bill would apply in the event of a fire drill and to conform the provisions of section 2 of the bill to P.L.2019, c.480.