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Senate Bill 590 – School Safety

Bureau of Student Support Services (BoSSS)

Office of Safe Schools (OSS)

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Overview

Modifications of Several Provisions Related to School Safety and Mental Health as a Result of Senate Bill 590

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Keys to Understanding

The Bill

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Florida Statutes Impacted by the Bill

    • 381.0056 ̶ School Health Services Program
    • 394.463 ̶ Involuntary Examination
    • 1001.212 ̶ Office of Safe Schools
    • 1002.20 ̶ K-12 Student and Parent Rights
    • 1002.33 ̶ Charter Schools
    • 1006.07 ̶ District School Board Duties … Discipline and School Safety
    • 1006.12 ̶ Safe-School Officers at Each Public School
    • 1008.386 ̶ Florida Student Identification
    • 1011.62 ̶ Funds for Operation of Schools

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Keys to Understanding - continued

The Memo

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School Safety and Mental Health Provisions Impacted by Bill

    • Notifications
    • Documentation and Reporting
    • Policies and Procedures

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Notifications

Modifications of Several Provisions Related to School Safety and Mental Health

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381.0056 ̶ School Health Services Program

394.463 ̶ Involuntary Examination

1002.20 ̶ K-12 Student and Parent Rights

1002.33 ̶ Charter Schools

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Initiation of an Involuntary Examination

  • Requires public schools, including charter schools, to make a reasonable attempt to notify the parents of a minor student before the student is removed from school, school transportation or a school-sponsored activity for an involuntary mental health examination (Baker Act), unless the child poses an imminent danger to themselves or others.

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    • Defines “a reasonable attempt to notify” as “the exercise of reasonable diligence and care by the principal or the principal’s designee to make contact with the student’s parent, guardian or other known emergency contact whom the student’s parent or guardian has authorized to receive notification of an involuntary examination.”

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Initiation of an Involuntary Examination - continued

  • Requires the principal or their designee to, at a minimum, use available methods of communication to notify a parent, guardian or other known emergency contact following the decision to initiate an involuntary examination a student. The methods of communication should include, but are not limited to, telephone calls, text messages, emails and voicemails.

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Initiation of an Involuntary Examination - continued

  • A principal or his or her designee who successfully notifies any other known emergency contact may share only the information necessary to alert such contact that the parent or caregiver must be contacted. All such information must be in compliance with federal and state law.

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  • A principal or his or her designee may delay the required notification, which must take place no more than 24 hours after the removal
    • if that principal or designee reasonably believes that such delay is necessary to avoid jeopardizing the health and safety of the student.
    • if that principal or designee believes the delay to be in the student’s best interest and a report has been submitted to the central abuse hotline, pursuant to section 39.201, Florida Statutes, based upon knowledge or suspicion of abuse, abandonment or neglect.

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Threats, Emergencies and Data

  • Provides that parents of students in public schools, including charter schools, have the right to timely notification of threats, unlawful acts and significant emergencies, as well as access to school safety and discipline incidents as reported in the School Environmental Safety Incident Report (SESIR).

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Documentation and Reporting

Modifications of Several Provisions Related to School Safety and Mental Health

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1002.20 ̶ K-12 Student and Parent Rights

1002.33 ̶ Charter Schools

1001.212 ̶ Office of Safe Schools

1006.07 ̶ District School Board Duties … Discipline and School Safety

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Documents and Reports

  • Requires a principal or their designee to document the method, number of attempts and the outcome of each attempt made to contact the student’s parent, guardian or other known emergency contact, only allowing a delay of notification for no more than 24 hours if it is necessary to avoid jeopardizing the health and safety of the student.
  • Requires each district school board to adopt a policy mandating that the school superintendent annually report to the department (i.e., BoSSS) the number of involuntary examinations initiated at a school, on school transportation or at a school-sponsored activity.

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Documents and Reports - continued

  • Requires each school district to report to the department (i.e., BoSSS) the number of children for whom an involuntary examination was initiated.

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*Here are a few Data Elements that should be collected:

    • Date of crisis incident
    • Asking if notification was provided within 24 hours (if not, why)
    • Name and role of the qualified professional who initiated the Exam
    • Name and title of trained school personnel who attempted to de-escalate
    • Location of crisis incident

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www.FLDOE.org

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Policies and Procedures

Modifications of Several Provisions Related to School Safety and Mental Health

1011.62 ̶ Funds for Operation of Schools 1006.07 ̶ District School Board Duties … Discipline and School Safety 1002.20 ̶ K-12 Student and Parent Rights 1002.33 ̶ Charter Schools 1006.12 ̶ Safe-School Officers at Each Public School 1008.386 ̶ Florida Student Identification

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Policies and Procedures

Elements for Districts and Charter Schools Completing their own Mental Health Assistance Allocation Plan

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  • Requires school districts to adopt procedures, which are to be applied to all students, mandating that specific, trained school personnel (i.e., mental or behavioral health service providers, or school resource or school safety officers who have completed mental health crisis intervention training) attempt to de-escalate a crisis situation before initiating an involuntary examination.

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Policies and Procedures - continued

Elements for Districts and Charter Schools Completing their own Mental Health Assistance Allocation Plan - continued

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  • Requires schools to make a reasonable attempt to contact, in person or via telehealth, a mental health professional capable of initiating an involuntary examination prior to initiating an involuntary examination. The mental health professional may be available to a school district either by contracts or interagency agreements with a local community behavioral health provider, a managing entity or a local mobile response team. Alternatively, the mental health professional may be a direct or contracted employee of the school district.

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Policies and Procedures - continued

Added Requirements for District Codes of Student Conduct

  • Criteria for recommending to law enforcement that a student who commits a criminal offense be allowed to participate in a civil citation or similar pre-arrest diversion program as an alternative to expulsion or arrest.
  • Criteria (to schools) for assigning a student who commits a petty act of misconduct to a school-based intervention program. If a student’s assignment is based on a noncriminal offense, the student’s participation in a school-based intervention program may not be entered into the Department of Juvenile Justice Information System Prevention Web.

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Policies and Procedures - continued

Added Requirements for Emergency Drills�and Procedures

  • Allows district school board policies to �provide accommodations for drills �conducted by exceptional student�education centers.
  • Requires district school boards to �establish emergency response and �emergency preparedness policies and procedures, which are to include the timely notification to parents of certain events that occur on school grounds, during school transportation, or during school-sponsored activities.

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Emergency Drills and Procedures

  • CFO Directive 2020-13 permitted flexibility with evacuation drills required for schools.
  • That flexibility is still available in order to maintain social distancing, including:
    • Zoned or phased evacuations
    • Alternate areas of refuge
    • A minimum of four drills must take place before replacing drills with fire safety education
    • Recommended coordination with local fire officials on fire safety education

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Policies and Procedures - continued

Added Requirements for School Safety Officers

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  • School Safety Officers must complete mental health crisis intervention training using a curriculum developed by a national organization with expertise in mental health crisis intervention. The training shall improve officers’ knowledge and skills as first responders to incidents involving students with emotional disturbance or mental illness, including de-escalation skills to ensure student and officer safety.

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Policies and Procedures - continued

Added Requirements for Student Identification Cards

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  • All student identification cards issued by a public school to students in grades six through 12 must include the telephone numbers for national or statewide crisis and suicide hotlines and text lines.

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Contacts

Jesus Aviles – Jesus.Aviles@fldoe.org – BoSSS

Beverley Wilks – Beverley.Wilks@fldoe.org – BoSSS

Julie Collins – Julie.Collins@fldoe.org ̶ OSS

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