102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
HB2400

 

Introduced 2/17/2021, by Rep. Maura Hirschauer

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
105 ILCS 128/20
105 ILCS 128/25

    Amends the School Safety Drill Act. Provides that parents or guardians must receive prior notice of a law enforcement drill not less than 5 days prior to the drill. Provides that a law enforcement drill (i) must not include simulations that mimic an actual school shooting incident or active shooter event, (ii) must be announced in advance to all school personnel and students prior to the commencement of the drill, (iii) must include content that is age appropriate and developmentally appropriate, (iv) must include and involve school personnel, including school-based mental health professionals, and (v) must include trauma-informed approaches to address the concerns and well-being of students and school personnel. Requires a school district to include in its annual review of each school building's emergency and crisis response plans, protocols, and procedures an examination of the efficacy and effects of law enforcement drills. Effective immediately.


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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning education.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The School Safety Drill Act is amended by
5changing Sections 20 and 25 as follows:
 
6    (105 ILCS 128/20)
7    Sec. 20. Number of drills; incidents covered; local
8authority participation.
9    (a) During each academic year, schools must conduct a
10minimum of 3 school evacuation drills to address and prepare
11students and school personnel for fire incidents. These drills
12must meet all of the following criteria:
13        (1) One of the 3 school evacuation drills shall
14    require the participation of the appropriate local fire
15    department or district.
16            (A) Each local fire department or fire district
17        must contact the appropriate school administrator or
18        his or her designee no later than September 1 of each
19        year in order to arrange for the participation of the
20        department or district in the school evacuation drill.
21            (B) Each school administrator or his or her
22        designee must contact the responding local fire
23        official no later than September 15 of each year and

 

 

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1        propose to the local fire official 4 dates within the
2        month of October, during at least 2 different weeks of
3        October, on which the drill shall occur. The fire
4        official may choose any of the 4 available dates, and
5        if he or she does so, the drill shall occur on that
6        date.
7            (C) The school administrator or his or her
8        designee and the local fire official may also, by
9        mutual agreement, set any other date for the drill,
10        including a date outside of the month of October.
11            (D) If the fire official does not select one of the
12        4 offered dates in October or set another date by
13        mutual agreement, the requirement that the school
14        include the local fire service in one of its mandatory
15        school evacuation drills shall be waived. Schools,
16        however, shall continue to be strongly encouraged to
17        include the fire service in a school evacuation drill
18        at a mutually agreed-upon time.
19            (E) Upon the participation of the local fire
20        service, the appropriate local fire official shall
21        certify that the school evacuation drill was
22        conducted.
23            (F) When scheduling the school evacuation drill,
24        the school administrator or his or her designee and
25        the local fire department or fire district may, by
26        mutual agreement on or before September 14, choose to

 

 

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1        waive the provisions of subparagraphs (B), (C), and
2        (D) of this paragraph (1).
3        Additional school evacuation drills for fire incidents
4    may involve the participation of the appropriate local
5    fire department or district.
6        (2) Schools may conduct additional school evacuation
7    drills to account for other evacuation incidents,
8    including without limitation suspicious items or bomb
9    threats.
10        (3) All drills shall be conducted at each school
11    building that houses school children.
12    (b) During each academic year, schools must conduct a
13minimum of one bus evacuation drill. This drill shall be
14accounted for in the curriculum in all public schools and in
15all other educational institutions in this State that are
16supported or maintained, in whole or in part, by public funds
17and that provide instruction in any of the grades kindergarten
18through 12. This curriculum shall include instruction in safe
19bus riding practices for all students. Schools may conduct
20additional bus evacuation drills. All drills shall be
21conducted at each school building that houses school children.
22    (b-5) Notwithstanding the minimum requirements established
23by this Act, private schools that do not utilize a bus to
24transport students for any purpose are exempt from subsection
25(b) of this Section, provided that the chief school
26administrator of the private school provides written assurance

 

 

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1to the State Board of Education that the private school does
2not plan to utilize a bus to transport students for any purpose
3during the current academic year. The assurance must be made
4on a form supplied by the State Board of Education and filed no
5later than October 15. If a private school utilizes a bus to
6transport students for any purpose during an academic year
7when an assurance pursuant to this subsection (b-5) has been
8filed with the State Board of Education, the private school
9shall immediately notify the State Board of Education and
10comply with subsection (b) of this Section no later than 30
11calendar days after utilization of the bus to transport
12students, except that, at the discretion of the private
13school, students chosen for participation in the bus
14evacuation drill need include only the subgroup of students
15that are utilizing bus transportation.
16    (c) During each academic year, schools must conduct a law
17enforcement drill to address a school shooting incident. No
18later than 90 days after the first day of each school year,
19schools must conduct at least one law enforcement drill that
20addresses an active threat or an active shooter within a
21school building. Such drills must be conducted according to
22the school district's or private school's emergency and crisis
23response plans, protocols, and procedures to evaluate the
24preparedness of school personnel and students. Law enforcement
25drills must be conducted on days and times when students are
26normally present in the school building and must involve

 

 

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1participation from all school personnel and students present
2at school at the time of the drill, except that administrators
3or school support personnel in their discretion may exempt
4students from the drill. The appropriate local law enforcement
5agency shall observe the administration of the drill. All
6drills must be conducted at each school building that houses
7school children.
8        (1) A law enforcement drill must meet all of the
9    following criteria:
10            (A) During each calendar year, the appropriate
11        local law enforcement agency shall contact the
12        appropriate school administrator to request to
13        participate in a law enforcement drill. The school
14        administrator and local law enforcement agency shall
15        set, by mutual agreement, a date for the drill.
16            (A-5) The drill shall require the on-site
17        participation of the local law enforcement agency. If
18        a mutually agreeable date cannot be reached between
19        the school administrator and the appropriate local law
20        enforcement agency, then the school shall still hold
21        the drill without participation from the agency.
22            (B) Upon the participation of a local law
23        enforcement agency in a law enforcement drill, the
24        appropriate local law enforcement official shall
25        certify that the law enforcement drill was conducted
26        and notify the school in a timely manner of any

 

 

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1        deficiencies noted during the drill.
2            (C) The drill must not include simulations that
3        mimic an actual school shooting incident or active
4        shooter event.
5            (D) Parents or guardians must receive prior notice
6        of the law enforcement drill not less than 5 days prior
7        to drill.
8            (E) All drill must be announced in advance to all
9        school personnel and students prior to the
10        commencement of the drill.
11            (F) Drill content must be age appropriate and
12        developmentally appropriate.
13            (G) Drills must include and involve school
14        personnel, including school-based mental health
15        professionals.
16            (H) Drills must include trauma-informed approaches
17        to address the concerns and well-being of students and
18        school personnel.
19        (2) Schools may conduct additional law enforcement
20    drills at their discretion.
21        (3) (Blank).
22    (d) During each academic year, schools must conduct a
23minimum of one severe weather and shelter-in-place drill to
24address and prepare students and school personnel for possible
25tornado incidents and may conduct additional severe weather
26and shelter-in-place drills to account for other incidents,

 

 

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1including without limitation earthquakes or hazardous
2materials. All drills shall be conducted at each school
3building that houses school children.
4(Source: P.A. 100-443, eff. 8-25-17; 100-996, eff. 1-1-19.)
 
5    (105 ILCS 128/25)
6    Sec. 25. Annual review.
7    (a) Each public school district, through its school board
8or the board's designee, shall conduct a minimum of one annual
9meeting at which it will review each school building's
10emergency and crisis response plans, protocols, and
11procedures, including procedures regarding the school
12district's threat assessment team, the efficacy and effects of
13law enforcement drills, and each building's compliance with
14the school safety drill programs. The purpose of this annual
15review shall be to review and update the emergency and crisis
16response plans, protocols, and procedures and the school
17safety drill programs of the district and each of its school
18buildings. This review must be at no cost to the school
19district. In updating a school building's emergency and crisis
20response plans, consideration may be given to making the
21emergency and crisis response plans available to first
22responders, administrators, and teachers for implementation
23and utilization through the use of electronic applications on
24electronic devices, including, but not limited to,
25smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers.

 

 

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1    (b) Each school board or the board's designee is required
2to participate in the annual review and to invite each of the
3following parties to the annual review and provide each party
4with a minimum of 30 days' notice before the date of the annual
5review:
6        (1) The principal of each school within the school
7    district or his or her official designee.
8        (2) Representatives from any other education-related
9    organization or association deemed appropriate by the
10    school district.
11        (3) Representatives from all local first responder
12    organizations to participate, advise, and consult in the
13    review process, including, but not limited to:
14            (A) the appropriate local fire department or
15        district;
16            (B) the appropriate local law enforcement agency;
17            (C) the appropriate local emergency medical
18        services agency if the agency is a separate, local
19        first responder unit; and
20            (D) any other member of the first responder or
21        emergency management community that has contacted the
22        district superintendent or his or her designee during
23        the past year to request involvement in a school's
24        emergency planning or drill process.
25        (4) The school board or its designee may also choose
26    to invite to the annual review any other persons whom it

 

 

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1    believes will aid in the review process, including, but
2    not limited to, any members of any other education-related
3    organization or the first responder or emergency
4    management community.
5    (c) Upon the conclusion of the annual review, the school
6board or the board's designee shall sign a one page report,
7which may be in either a check-off format or a narrative
8format, that does the following:
9        (1) summarizes the review's recommended changes to the
10    existing school safety plans and drill plans;
11        (2) lists the parties that participated in the annual
12    review, and includes the annual review's attendance
13    record;
14        (3) certifies that an effective review of the
15    emergency and crisis response plans, protocols, and
16    procedures and the school safety drill programs of the
17    district and each of its school buildings has occurred;
18        (4) states that the school district will implement
19    those plans, protocols, procedures, and programs, during
20    the academic year; and
21        (5) includes the authorization of the school board or
22    the board's designee.
23    (d) The school board or its designee shall send a copy of
24the report to each party that participates in the annual
25review process and to the appropriate regional superintendent
26of schools. If any of the participating parties have comments

 

 

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1on the certification document, those parties shall submit
2their comments in writing to the appropriate regional
3superintendent. The regional superintendent shall maintain a
4record of these comments. The certification document may be in
5a check-off format or narrative format, at the discretion of
6the district superintendent.
7    (e) The review must occur at least once during the fiscal
8year, at a specific time chosen at the school district
9superintendent's discretion.
10    (f) A private school shall conduct a minimum of one annual
11meeting at which the school must review each school building's
12emergency and crisis response plans, protocols, and procedures
13and each building's compliance with the school safety drill
14programs of the school. The purpose of this annual review
15shall be to review and update the emergency and crisis
16response plans, protocols, and procedures and the school
17safety drill programs of the school. This review must be at no
18cost to the private school.
19    The private school shall invite representatives from all
20local first responder organizations to participate, advise,
21and consult in the review process, including, but not limited
22to, the following:
23        (1) the appropriate local fire department or fire
24    protection district;
25        (2) the appropriate local law enforcement agency;
26        (3) the appropriate local emergency medical services

 

 

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1    agency if the agency is a separate, local first responder
2    unit; and
3        (4) any other member of the first responder or
4    emergency management community that has contacted the
5    school's chief administrative officer or his or her
6    designee during the past year to request involvement in
7    the school's emergency planning or drill process.
8(Source: P.A. 101-455, eff. 8-23-19.)
 
9    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
10becoming law.