BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 496
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 13, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 496 (Alejo) - As Introduced: February 15, 2011
SUBJECT : School safety plans
SUMMARY : Requires the comprehensive school safety plan to
include a protocol for ensuring that all school personnel have
access to classrooms and other school facilities during a
disaster or other emergency if a school restricts that access
during regular hours of school operation.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Expresses the intent of the Legislature that all California
public schools work with local law enforcement agencies,
community leaders, parents, pupils, teachers, administrators,
and other interested parties in the prevention of campus crime
and violence, and develop a comprehensive school safety plan.
2)Specifies that the schoolsite council or a school safety
planning committee is responsible for developing the
comprehensive school safety plan.
3)Specifies that the comprehensive school safety plan shall
include an assessment of the current status of school crime
committed on school campuses and at school-related functions
and identification of appropriate strategies and programs that
will provide or maintain a high level of school safety and
address the school's procedures for complying with existing
laws related to school safety, including child abuse reporting
procedures; disaster procedures; an earthquake emergency
procedure system; policies regarding pupils who commit
specified acts that would lead to suspension or expulsion;
procedures to notify teachers of dangerous pupils; a
discrimination and harassment policy; the provisions of any
schoolwide dress code; procedures for safe ingress and egress
of pupils, parents, and school employees to and from school; a
safe and orderly environment conducive to learning; rules and
procedures on school discipline; and hate crime reporting
procedures.
4)Requires the comprehensive school safety plan to be evaluated
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at least once a year.
5)Requires the comprehensive school safety plan to be submitted
to the school district or county office of education (COE) for
approval and requires a school district or COE to notify the
California Department of Education (CDE) by October 15 of
every year of any school that is not in compliance.
6)Provides that if the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) determines that there has been a willful failure to make
any report, the SPI shall notify and assess no more than
$2,000 against that school district or COE.
7)Requires each school to include a description of key elements
of the school safety plan in the annual school accountability
report card.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Existing law requires each school to develop a school
safety plan that includes processes, procedures, and policies to
ensure student and staff safety at a school site. Current law
also requires a school to submit the school safety plan to the
school district or COE for approval and requires the school
district or COE to annually notify the CDE of any schools that
have not complied with the requirement to develop a school
safety plan. The SPI is authorized to impose a fine of not more
than $2,000 against a school district or COE for any willful
failure to make any required report. According to the CDE,
there has been no report of noncompliance by schools and no
district or COE has been fined for willfully failing to report a
school that has not developed a school safety plan.
Purpose of the bill . The author states, "Schools are required
by law to have a comprehensive school safety plan that includes
routine and emergency disaster procedures. However, the lack of
specificity regarding what those plans must include has resulted
in some schools failing to adequately address site specific
scenarios. The unfortunate result of this is that children and
school employees may be at greater risk during emergency
situations at certain schools due to inadequacies in the
school's comprehensive safety plan."
According to the sponsor, the Laborers' International Union of
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North America, Local 777, this bill was introduced as a result
of a shooting that occurred at a school in the Carlsbad Unified
School District. In October 2010, a shooter walked onto the
campus of the Kelly Elementary School in Carlsbad and shot into
a crowd of children who were in the playground during recess.
Two girls, ages 6 and 7, sustained wounds to their arms.
According to the sponsor, who represents the classified
employees at the school, due to a district policy limiting
access to classroom door keys, the school staff who was watching
the children was not able to take the children inside into
nearby classrooms. The sponsor states, "These Classified
employees found the rooms to be locked and were forced to shield
the children in their care from harm with their own bodies. The
helplessness felt by these employees is immeasurable?."
This bill requires the comprehensive school safety plan to
include a protocol for ensuring that all school personnel have
access to classrooms and other school facilities during a
disaster or other emergency if a school restricts that access
during regular school hours. It is not clear how many districts
or schoolsites have policies that limit assignment of keys to
specified staff.
What would the protocol look like? The sponsor states that
there are a number of possible strategies. For example, keys
can be made available in the school office or a master key can
be given to one teacher and in an emergency situation, staff
would be directed to go to that teacher's classroom.
Alternatively, the school can ensure that at least one staff
monitoring children outside of classrooms have access to a
master key. The bill provides the local school community the
flexibility to devise strategies.
Existing law requires the school safety plan to include the
development of routine and emergency disaster procedures. The
protocol required to be developed by this bill is related to
this existing provision in Section 32282(a)(2)(B). Staff
recommends relocating the provision proposed by this bill to
this subdivision.
Related legislation . AB 519 (Hern�ndez), pending in the
Assembly Education Committee, authorizes the comprehensive
school safety plan to include rules and procedures regarding the
use of restraint and seclusion, prohibits an educational
provider from using chemical and mechanical restraint, and
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limits the use of physical restraint and seclusion.
SB 755 (Lieu), pending in the Senate Education Committee, makes
a number of changes to the comprehensive school safety plan,
including extending the requirement to develop a school safety
plan to charter schools and imposing a fine of between $250 and
$1,000 on any principal, administrator at a school without a
principal, and any superintendent of a school district or county
office of education for failing to develop a school safety plan
or failing to make specified reporting requirements.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Laborers' International Union of North America, Local 777
(sponsor)
California Labor Federation
California School Employees Association
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087