(1) As used in this section:
(a) “Emergency management response plan” or “emergency plan” means a written document to prevent, mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies; and
(b) “First responders” means local fire, police, and emergency medical personnel. (2) (a) Each local board of education shall require the school council or, if none
exists, the principal in each school building in its jurisdiction to adopt an
emergency plan. The emergency plan shall include:
1. Procedures to be followed in case of medical emergency, fire, severe weather, earthquake, or a building lockdown as defined in KRS
158.164;
2. A written cardiac emergency response plan; and
3. A diagram of the facility that clearly identifies the location of each automated external defibrillator.
(b) The emergency plan shall be provided to appropriate first responders and all school staff.
(c) The emergency plan shall be reviewed following the end of each school year by the school nurse, school council, the principal, and first responders and revised as needed.
(d) The principal shall discuss the emergency plan with all school staff prior to the first instructional day of each school year and document the time and date of any discussion.
(e) The cardiac emergency response plan shall be rehearsed by simulation prior to the beginning of each athletic season by all:
1. Licensed athletic trainers, school nurses, and athletic directors; and
2. Interscholastic coaches and volunteer coaches of each athletic team active during that athletic season.
(f) The emergency plan shall be excluded from the application of KRS § 61.870 to
61.884.
(3) Each local board of education shall require the school council or, if none exists, the principal in each school building to:
(a) Establish primary and secondary evacuation routes for all rooms located within the school and shall post the routes in each room by any doorway used for evacuation;
(b) Identify the best available severe weather safe zones, in consultation with local and state safety officials and informed by guiding principles set forth by the National Weather Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and post the location of safe zones in each room of the school;
(c) Develop practices for students to follow during an earthquake;
(d) Develop and adhere to practices to control the access to each school building.
Practices shall include but not be limited to:
1. Controlling outside access to exterior doors during the school day;
2. Controlling the main entrance of the school with electronically locking doors, a camera, and an intercom system;
3. Controlling access to individual classrooms;
4. Requiring classroom doors to be equipped with hardware that allows the door to be locked from the outside but opened from the inside;
5. Requiring classroom doors to remain closed and locked during instructional time, except:
a. In instances in which only one (1) student and one (1) adult are in the classroom; or
b. When approved in writing by the state school security marshal;
6. Requiring classroom doors with windows to be equipped with material to quickly cover the window during a building lockdown;
7. Requiring all visitors to report to the front office of the building, provide valid identification, and state the purpose of the visit; and
8. Providing a visitor’s badge to be visibly displayed on a visitor’s outer garment;
(e) Maintain a portable automated external defibrillator in a public, readily accessible, well-marked location in every middle and high school building and, as funds become available, at school-sanctioned middle and high school athletic practices and competitions and:
1. Adopt procedures for the use of the portable automated external defibrillator during an emergency;
2. Adopt policies for compliance with KRS § 311.665 to KRS § 311.669 on training, maintenance, notification, and communication with the local emergency medical services system;
3. Ensure that a minimum of three (3) employees in the school and all interscholastic athletic coaches be trained on the use of a portable automated external defibrillator in accordance with KRS § 311.667; and
4. Ensure that all interscholastic athletic coaches maintain a cardiopulmonary resuscitation certification recognized by a national accrediting body on heart health; and
(f) Require development of an event-specific emergency action plan for each school-sanctioned nonathletic event held off-campus to be used during a medical emergency, which may include the provision of a portable automated external defibrillator. The plan shall:
1. Include a delineation of the roles of staff and emergency personnel, methods of communication, any assigned emergency equipment including a portable automated external defibrillator, a cardiac emergency response plan, and access to and plan for emergency transport; and
2. Be in writing and distributed to any member of school personnel attending the school-sanctioned event in an official capacity.
(4) All schools shall be in compliance with the provisions of subsection (3)(d) of this section no later than July 1, 2022.
(5) (a) Each local board of education shall require the principal in each public school building in its jurisdiction to conduct, at a minimum, emergency response drills to include:
1. One (1) severe weather drill, one (1) earthquake drill, and one (1) lockdown drill within the first thirty (30) instructional days of each school year and again during the month of January; and
2. The emergency response plan rehearsal by simulation required by subsection (2) of this section and the venue-specific emergency action plan rehearsal by simulation required by KRS § 160.445(5) prior to the beginning of each athletic season.
(b) Required fire drills shall be conducted according to administrative regulations promulgated by the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction. Whenever possible, first responders shall be invited to observe emergency response drills.
(6) No later than November 1 of each school year, a local district superintendent shall send verification to the Kentucky Department of Education that all schools within the district are in compliance with the requirements of this section.
(7) A district with a school not in compliance with the requirements of subsection (3)(d) of this section by July 1, 2022, shall not be eligible for approval by the Kentucky Department of Education for new building construction or expansion in the 2022-2023 school year and any subsequent year without verification of compliance, except for facility improvements that specifically address the school safety and security requirements of this section, when deemed necessary for the protection of student or staff health and safety, or to comply with other legal requirements or orders.
Effective: June 29, 2023
History: Amended 2023 Ky. Acts ch. 165, sec. 1, effective June 29, 2023. — Amended
2020 Ky. Acts ch. 5, sec. 11, effective February 21, 2020. — Amended 2019 Ky. Acts ch. 5, sec. 14, effective March 11, 2019. — Amended 2015 Ky. Acts ch. 38, sec.
1, effective June 24, 2015. — Created 2013 Ky. Acts ch. 126, sec. 1, effective June
25, 2013; and ch. 133, sec. 1, effective June 25, 2013.
Legislative Research Commission Note (6/29/2023). 2023 Ky. Acts ch. 165, sec. 1, which amended this statute, contained a reference to subsection (5) of Section 4 of this Act, though it is clear from the text of the Act that the reference was meant to be to subsection (5) of Section 5 of the Act, as only that section dealt with venue- specific emergency action plan rehearsal by simulation. The Reviser of Statutes has corrected this manifest clerical or typographical error during codification under the authority of KRS § 7.136(1).
Legislative Research Commission Note (6/25/2013). This statute was created by 2013
Ky. Acts chs. 126 and 133, which were companion bills and are substantively identical. Where these Acts are not in conflict, they have been codified together. Where a conflict exists, Acts ch. 126 prevails under KRS § 446.250 as the Act which
passed the General Assembly last.