{"formats":[{"name":"JSON","format":"json","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-json\/22.1-279.8.json"},{"name":"Plain Text","format":"text","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-text\/22.1-279.8.txt"},{"name":"XML","format":"xml","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-xml\/22.1-279.8.xml"},{"name":"HTML","format":"html","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-html\/22.1-279.8.html"}],"law_id":80015,"edition_id":1,"section_id":80015,"structure_id":13097,"section_number":"22.1-279.8","catch_line":"School safety audits and school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans required","history":"1997, c. 593; 1999, cc. 475, 516, \u00a7 22.1-278.1; 2001, cc. 436, 440, 688, 820, 841; 2002, cc. 166, 221, 229, 235; 2003, c. 801; 2004, c. 690; 2005, c. 904; 2006, c. 43; 2007, c. 44; 2009, cc. 222, 269; 2012, c. 418; 2013, c. 609; 2014, cc. 7, 158; 2015, cc. 502, 503; 2017, c. 778; 2019, cc. 141, 410, 487, 488; 2020, c. 338; 2022, cc. 21, 22, 57; 2023, cc. 282, 283; 2024, c. 429; 2025, cc. 232, 234, 573, 581.","full_text":"A\n\nFor the purposes of this section, unless the context requires otherwise:\n\t\t\t“School crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan” means the essential procedures, operations, and assignments required to prevent, manage, and respond to a critical event or emergency, including natural disasters involving fire, flood, tornadoes, or other severe weather; loss or disruption of power, water, communications or shelter; bus or other accidents; medical emergencies, including cardiac arrest and other life-threatening medical emergencies; student or staff member deaths; explosions; bomb threats; gun, knife or other weapons threats; spills or exposures to hazardous substances; the presence of unauthorized persons or trespassers; the loss, disappearance or kidnapping of a student; hostage situations; violence on school property or at school activities; incidents involving acts of terrorism; and other incidents posing a serious threat of harm to students, personnel, or facilities. The plan shall include a provision that the Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund shall be contacted immediately to deploy assistance in the event of an emergency as defined in the emergency response plan when there are victims as defined in § 19.2-11.01. The Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund shall be the lead coordinating agencies for those individuals determined to be victims, and the plan shall also contain current contact information for both agencies.\n\t\t\t“School safety audit” means a written assessment of the safety conditions in each public school to (i) identify and, if necessary, develop solutions for physical safety concerns, including building security issues, and (ii) identify and evaluate any patterns of student safety concerns occurring on school property or at school-sponsored events. Solutions and responses shall include recommendations for structural adjustments, changes in school safety procedures, and revisions to the school board’s standards for student conduct.B\n\nThe Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, in consultation with the Department of Education, shall develop a list of items to be reviewed and evaluated in the school safety audits required by this section. Such items shall include (i) those incidents reported to school authorities pursuant to § 22.1-279.3:1; (ii) a school inspection walk-through using a standardized checklist provided by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, which shall incorporate crime prevention through environmental design principles; and (iii) specific technology systems, including physical security technologies, emergency telecommunication systems, and associated technology including equipment and software.\n\t\t\tThe Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety shall prescribe a standardized report format for school safety audits, additional reporting criteria, and procedures for report submission, which may include instructions for electronic submission.\n\t\t\tEach local school board shall require all schools under its supervisory control to annually conduct school safety audits, as defined in this section, consistent with such list and in collaboration with the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality or his designee. As part of each such audit, the school board shall create a detailed and accurate floor plan for each public school building in the local school division or shall certify that the existing floor plan for each such school is sufficiently detailed and accurate. In addition, a component of each such audit shall include a review of the school’s comprehensive plan for closures during public health emergencies.\n\t\t\tThe results of such school safety audits shall be made public within 90 days of completion pursuant to this subsection. The local school board shall retain authority to withhold or limit the release of any security plans, walk-through checklists, floor plans, and specific vulnerability assessment components as provided in subdivision 4 of § 2.2-3705.2. The completed walk-through checklist shall be made available to the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality or his designee. Each school shall maintain a copy of the school safety audit, which may exclude such security plans, walk-through checklists, and vulnerability assessment components, within the office of the school principal and shall make a copy of such report available for review upon written request.\n\t\t\tEach school shall submit a copy of its school safety audit to the relevant school division superintendent. The division superintendent shall collate and submit all such school safety audits, in the prescribed format and manner of submission, to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety and shall make available to the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality the results of such audits for his review and recommendations.C\n\nThe division superintendent shall establish a school safety audit committee to include, if available, representatives of parents, teachers, local law enforcement, emergency services agencies, local community services boards, and judicial and public safety personnel. The school safety audit committee shall review the completed school safety audits and submit any plans, as needed, for improving school safety to the division superintendent for submission to the local school board. The division superintendent or his designee and the school safety audit committee may meet annually on the grounds of any public school in the local school division with the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality or a designee from the local law-enforcement agency to discuss the school safety audit completed for such school.D\n\nEach school board shall ensure that every school that it supervises shall develop a written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan, consistent with the definition provided in this section, and shall include the chief law-enforcement officer, the fire chief, the chief of the emergency medical services agency, the executive director of the relevant regional emergency medical services council, and the emergency management official of the locality, or their designees, in the development of such plans. Each school division shall designate an emergency manager. The Department of Education and the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety shall provide technical assistance to the school divisions of the Commonwealth in the development of the school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans that describe the components of a medical emergency response plan developed in coordination with local emergency medical services providers, the training of school personnel and students to respond to a life-threatening emergency, and the equipment required for this emergency response. The local school board, the chief law-enforcement officer, the fire chief, the chief of the emergency medical services agency, the executive director of the relevant regional emergency medical services council, and the emergency management official of the locality, or their designees, shall annually review the written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans. The local school board shall have the authority to withhold or limit the review of any security plans and specific vulnerability assessment components as provided in subdivision 4 of § 2.2-3705.2. The local school division superintendent shall certify this review in writing to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety no later than August 31 of each year.\n\t\t\tUpon consultation with local school boards, division superintendents, the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, and the Coordinator of Emergency Management, the Board of Education shall develop, and may revise as it deems necessary, a model school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan for the purpose of assisting the public schools in the Commonwealth in developing viable, effective crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans. Such model shall set forth recommended effective procedures and means by which parents can contact the relevant school or school division regarding the location and safety of their school children and by which school officials may contact parents, with parental approval, during a critical event or emergency.E\n\nEach school board shall ensure that every public school it supervises employs at least one school administrator who has completed, either in-person or online, school safety training for public school personnel conducted by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety in accordance with subdivision A 1 of § 9.1-184. However, such requirement shall not apply if such required training is not available online.F\n\nEach division superintendent shall annually designate an employee in the local school division as the division safety official whose duty is to receive all reports required pursuant to subsection A of § 19.2-83.1 and §§ 19.2-291.1 and 19.2-299.3 and shall include such designation in the collated packet of school safety audits submitted to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety pursuant to subsection B. The designation required by this subsection shall include updated contact information for the division safety official, including (i) a current mailing address, (ii) a current working daytime phone number, and (iii) a current functional email address. It shall be the duty of the division superintendent to update contact information required by this subsection within 48 hours of any change to such contact information.","order_by":null,"text":{"0":{"id":286589,"text":"For the purposes of this section, unless the context requires otherwise:\n\t\t\t“School crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan” means the essential procedures, operations, and assignments required to prevent, manage, and respond to a critical event or emergency, including natural disasters involving fire, flood, tornadoes, or other severe weather; loss or disruption of power, water, communications or shelter; bus or other accidents; medical emergencies, including cardiac arrest and other life-threatening medical emergencies; student or staff member deaths; explosions; bomb threats; gun, knife or other weapons threats; spills or exposures to hazardous substances; the presence of unauthorized persons or trespassers; the loss, disappearance or kidnapping of a student; hostage situations; violence on school property or at school activities; incidents involving acts of terrorism; and other incidents posing a serious threat of harm to students, personnel, or facilities. The plan shall include a provision that the Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund shall be contacted immediately to deploy assistance in the event of an emergency as defined in the emergency response plan when there are victims as defined in § 19.2-11.01. The Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund shall be the lead coordinating agencies for those individuals determined to be victims, and the plan shall also contain current contact information for both agencies.\n\t\t\t“School safety audit” means a written assessment of the safety conditions in each public school to (i) identify and, if necessary, develop solutions for physical safety concerns, including building security issues, and (ii) identify and evaluate any patterns of student safety concerns occurring on school property or at school-sponsored events. Solutions and responses shall include recommendations for structural adjustments, changes in school safety procedures, and revisions to the school board’s standards for student conduct.","type":"section","prefixes":["A"],"prefix":"A","entire_prefix":"A","prefix_anchor":"A","level":1,"next_prefix":"B"},"1":{"id":286590,"text":"The Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, in consultation with the Department of Education, shall develop a list of items to be reviewed and evaluated in the school safety audits required by this section. Such items shall include (i) those incidents reported to school authorities pursuant to § 22.1-279.3:1; (ii) a school inspection walk-through using a standardized checklist provided by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, which shall incorporate crime prevention through environmental design principles; and (iii) specific technology systems, including physical security technologies, emergency telecommunication systems, and associated technology including equipment and software.\n\t\t\tThe Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety shall prescribe a standardized report format for school safety audits, additional reporting criteria, and procedures for report submission, which may include instructions for electronic submission.\n\t\t\tEach local school board shall require all schools under its supervisory control to annually conduct school safety audits, as defined in this section, consistent with such list and in collaboration with the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality or his designee. As part of each such audit, the school board shall create a detailed and accurate floor plan for each public school building in the local school division or shall certify that the existing floor plan for each such school is sufficiently detailed and accurate. In addition, a component of each such audit shall include a review of the school’s comprehensive plan for closures during public health emergencies.\n\t\t\tThe results of such school safety audits shall be made public within 90 days of completion pursuant to this subsection. The local school board shall retain authority to withhold or limit the release of any security plans, walk-through checklists, floor plans, and specific vulnerability assessment components as provided in subdivision 4 of § 2.2-3705.2. The completed walk-through checklist shall be made available to the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality or his designee. Each school shall maintain a copy of the school safety audit, which may exclude such security plans, walk-through checklists, and vulnerability assessment components, within the office of the school principal and shall make a copy of such report available for review upon written request.\n\t\t\tEach school shall submit a copy of its school safety audit to the relevant school division superintendent. The division superintendent shall collate and submit all such school safety audits, in the prescribed format and manner of submission, to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety and shall make available to the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality the results of such audits for his review and recommendations.","type":"section","prefixes":["B"],"prefix":"B","entire_prefix":"B","prefix_anchor":"B","level":1,"prior_prefix":"A","next_prefix":"C"},"2":{"id":286591,"text":"The division superintendent shall establish a school safety audit committee to include, if available, representatives of parents, teachers, local law enforcement, emergency services agencies, local community services boards, and judicial and public safety personnel. The school safety audit committee shall review the completed school safety audits and submit any plans, as needed, for improving school safety to the division superintendent for submission to the local school board. The division superintendent or his designee and the school safety audit committee may meet annually on the grounds of any public school in the local school division with the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality or a designee from the local law-enforcement agency to discuss the school safety audit completed for such school.","type":"section","prefixes":["C"],"prefix":"C","entire_prefix":"C","prefix_anchor":"C","level":1,"prior_prefix":"B","next_prefix":"D"},"3":{"id":286592,"text":"Each school board shall ensure that every school that it supervises shall develop a written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan, consistent with the definition provided in this section, and shall include the chief law-enforcement officer, the fire chief, the chief of the emergency medical services agency, the executive director of the relevant regional emergency medical services council, and the emergency management official of the locality, or their designees, in the development of such plans. Each school division shall designate an emergency manager. The Department of Education and the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety shall provide technical assistance to the school divisions of the Commonwealth in the development of the school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans that describe the components of a medical emergency response plan developed in coordination with local emergency medical services providers, the training of school personnel and students to respond to a life-threatening emergency, and the equipment required for this emergency response. The local school board, the chief law-enforcement officer, the fire chief, the chief of the emergency medical services agency, the executive director of the relevant regional emergency medical services council, and the emergency management official of the locality, or their designees, shall annually review the written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans. The local school board shall have the authority to withhold or limit the review of any security plans and specific vulnerability assessment components as provided in subdivision 4 of § 2.2-3705.2. The local school division superintendent shall certify this review in writing to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety no later than August 31 of each year.\n\t\t\tUpon consultation with local school boards, division superintendents, the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, and the Coordinator of Emergency Management, the Board of Education shall develop, and may revise as it deems necessary, a model school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan for the purpose of assisting the public schools in the Commonwealth in developing viable, effective crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans. Such model shall set forth recommended effective procedures and means by which parents can contact the relevant school or school division regarding the location and safety of their school children and by which school officials may contact parents, with parental approval, during a critical event or emergency.","type":"section","prefixes":["D"],"prefix":"D","entire_prefix":"D","prefix_anchor":"D","level":1,"prior_prefix":"C","next_prefix":"E"},"4":{"id":286593,"text":"Each school board shall ensure that every public school it supervises employs at least one school administrator who has completed, either in-person or online, school safety training for public school personnel conducted by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety in accordance with subdivision A 1 of § 9.1-184. However, such requirement shall not apply if such required training is not available online.","type":"section","prefixes":["E"],"prefix":"E","entire_prefix":"E","prefix_anchor":"E","level":1,"prior_prefix":"D","next_prefix":"F"},"5":{"id":286594,"text":"Each division superintendent shall annually designate an employee in the local school division as the division safety official whose duty is to receive all reports required pursuant to subsection A of § 19.2-83.1 and §§ 19.2-291.1 and 19.2-299.3 and shall include such designation in the collated packet of school safety audits submitted to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety pursuant to subsection B. The designation required by this subsection shall include updated contact information for the division safety official, including (i) a current mailing address, (ii) a current working daytime phone number, and (iii) a current functional email address. It shall be the duty of the division superintendent to update contact information required by this subsection within 48 hours of any change to such contact information.","type":"section","prefixes":["F"],"prefix":"F","entire_prefix":"F","prefix_anchor":"F","level":1,"prior_prefix":"E"}},"ancestry":[{"id":13097,"edition_id":1,"name":"Discipline","identifier":"3","label":"article","depth":3,"order_by":1,"parent_id":12850,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:44:17","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:44:17","permalink":{"id":182375,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":13097,"identifier":"3","token":"22.1\/14\/3","url":"\/22.1\/14\/3\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":12850,"edition_id":1,"name":"Pupils","identifier":"14","label":"chapter","depth":2,"order_by":1,"parent_id":12823,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:43:56","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:43:56","permalink":{"id":182133,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12850,"identifier":"14","token":"22.1\/14","url":"\/22.1\/14\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":12823,"edition_id":1,"name":"Education","identifier":"22.1","label":"title","depth":1,"order_by":1,"parent_id":null,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:43:55","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:43:55","permalink":{"id":180949,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12823,"identifier":"22.1","token":"22.1","url":"\/22.1\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}}],"structure_contents":[{"id":84373,"structure_id":13097,"section_number":"22.1-276","catch_line":"Repealed","url":"\/22.1-276\/","token":"22.1\/14\/3\/22.1-276","metadata":false},{"id":77797,"structure_id":13097,"section_number":"22.1-276.01","catch_line":"Definitions","url":"\/22.1-276.01\/","token":"22.1\/14\/3\/22.1-276.01","metadata":false},{"id":59130,"structure_id":13097,"section_number":"22.1-276.1","catch_line":"Expired","url":"\/22.1-276.1\/","token":"22.1\/14\/3\/22.1-276.1","metadata":false},{"id":59973,"structure_id":13097,"section_number":"22.1-276.2","catch_line":"Removal of students from classes","url":"\/22.1-276.2\/","token":"22.1\/14\/3\/22.1-276.2","metadata":false},{"id":67307,"structure_id":13097,"section_number":"22.1-276.3","catch_line":"Ineligibility of students to compete in athletic competitions","url":"\/22.1-276.3\/","token":"22.1\/14\/3\/22.1-276.3","metadata":false},{"id":87441,"structure_id":13097,"section_number":"22.1-277","catch_line":"Suspensions and expulsions of students generally","url":"\/22.1-277\/","token":"22.1\/14\/3\/22.1-277","metadata":false},{"id":60099,"structure_id":13097,"section_number":"22.1-277.01","catch_line":"Repealed","url":"\/22.1-277.01\/","token":"22.1\/14\/3\/22.1-277.01","metadata":false},{"id":56964,"structure_id":13097,"section_number":"22.1-277.04","catch_line":"Short-term suspension; 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This law was first created in 1997. The record of its establishment is cataloged in chapter 593<\/a> of that year\u2019s edition of \u201cActs of Assembly,\u201d the annual state publication listing all changes made to the Code of Virginia in that year. It has been modified 20 times. Those modifications are cataloged by \u201cThe Acts of Assembly,\u201d a state publication, by year and chapter. Those modifications that can be read on the General Assembly\u2019s website will be linked accordingly. Those modifications are as follows: in 1999, chapters 475<\/a> and 516<\/a>; in 2001, chapters 436<\/a>, 440<\/a>, 688<\/a>, 820<\/a>, and 841<\/a>; in 2002, chapters 166<\/a>, 221<\/a>, 229<\/a>, and 235<\/a>; in 2003, chapter 801<\/a>; in 2004, chapter 690<\/a>; in 2005, chapter 904<\/a>; in 2006, chapter 43<\/a>; in 2007, chapter 44<\/a>; in 2009, chapters 222<\/a> and 269<\/a>; in 2012, chapter 418<\/a>; in 2013, chapter 609<\/a>; in 2014, chapters 7<\/a> and 158<\/a>; in 2015, chapters 502<\/a> and 503<\/a>; in 2017, chapter 778<\/a>; in 2019, chapters 141<\/a>, 410<\/a>, 487<\/a>, and 488<\/a>; in 2020, chapter 338<\/a>; in 2022, chapters 21<\/a>, 22<\/a>, and 57<\/a>; in 2023, chapters 282<\/a> and 283<\/a>; in 2024, chapter 429<\/a>; in 2025, chapters 232<\/a>, 234<\/a>, 573<\/a>, and 581<\/a>.<\/p>","references":[{"id":78867,"section_number":"19.2-291.1","catch_line":"Report of conviction of school employees for certain offenses","order_by":null,"url":"\/19.2-291.1\/"},{"id":56093,"section_number":"19.2-299.3","catch_line":"Report of arrest and conviction of school employees by probation and parole officers for certain offenses","order_by":null,"url":"\/19.2-299.3\/"},{"id":78541,"section_number":"19.2-83.1","catch_line":"Report of arrest of school employees and adult students for certain offenses","order_by":null,"url":"\/19.2-83.1\/"},{"id":67553,"section_number":"2.2-3705.2","catch_line":"Exclusions to application of chapter; records relating to public safety","order_by":null,"url":"\/2.2-3705.2\/"},{"id":78459,"section_number":"22.1-280.2:3","catch_line":"School boards; safety and security personnel","order_by":null,"url":"\/22.1-280.2_3\/"},{"id":70579,"section_number":"9.1-184","catch_line":"Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety created; duties","order_by":null,"url":"\/9.1-184\/"}],"refers_to":[{"id":56192,"section_number":"19.2-11.01","catch_line":"Crime victim and witness rights","order_by":null,"url":"\/19.2-11.01\/"},{"id":78867,"section_number":"19.2-291.1","catch_line":"Report of conviction of school employees for certain offenses","order_by":null,"url":"\/19.2-291.1\/"},{"id":56093,"section_number":"19.2-299.3","catch_line":"Report of arrest and conviction of school employees by probation and parole officers for certain offenses","order_by":null,"url":"\/19.2-299.3\/"},{"id":78541,"section_number":"19.2-83.1","catch_line":"Report of arrest of school employees and adult students for certain offenses","order_by":null,"url":"\/19.2-83.1\/"},{"id":67553,"section_number":"2.2-3705.2","catch_line":"Exclusions to application of chapter; records relating to public safety","order_by":null,"url":"\/2.2-3705.2\/"},{"id":64442,"section_number":"22.1-279.3:1","catch_line":"Reports of certain acts to school authorities; reports of certain acts by school authorities to parents; reports of certain acts by school authorities to law enforcement","order_by":null,"url":"\/22.1-279.3_1\/"},{"id":70579,"section_number":"9.1-184","catch_line":"Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety created; duties","order_by":null,"url":"\/9.1-184\/"}],"permalink":{"id":182501,"object_type":"law","relational_id":80015,"identifier":"22.1-279.8","token":"22.1\/14\/3\/22.1-279.8","url":"\/22.1-279.8\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1},"url":"\/22.1-279.8\/","token":"22.1\/14\/3\/22.1-279.8","dublin_core":{"Title":"School safety audits and school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans required","Type":"Text","Format":"text\/html","Identifier":"\u00a7 22.1-279.8","Relation":"Code of Virginia"},"html":"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

A.<\/span> For the purposes of this section, unless the context requires otherwise:\n\t\t\t“School crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan<\/span>” means the essential procedures, operations, and assignments required to prevent, manage, and respond to a critical event or emergency, including natural disasters involving fire, flood, tornadoes, or other severe weather; loss or disruption of power, water, communications or shelter; bus or other accidents; medical emergencies, including cardiac arrest<\/span> and other life-threatening medical emergencies; student or staff member deaths; explosions; bomb threats; gun, knife or other weapons threats; spills or exposures to hazardous substances; the presence of unauthorized persons or trespassers; the loss, disappearance or kidnapping of a student; hostage situations; violence on school property or at school activities; incidents involving acts of terrorism; and other incidents posing a serious threat of harm to students, personnel, or facilities. The plan shall include a provision that the Department<\/span> of Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund shall be contacted immediately to deploy assistance in the event of an emergency as defined in the emergency response plan when there are victims as defined in § 19.2-11.01<\/a>. The Department<\/span> of Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund shall be the lead coordinating agencies for those individuals determined to be victims, and the plan shall also contain current contact information for both agencies.\n\t\t\t“School safety audit<\/span>” means a written assessment of the safety conditions in each public school to (i) identify and, if necessary, develop solutions for physical safety concerns, including building security issues<\/span>, and (ii) identify and evaluate any patterns of student safety concerns occurring on school property or at school-sponsored events. Solutions and responses shall include recommendations for structural adjustments, changes in school safety procedures, and revisions to the school board<\/span>’s standards for student conduct. <\/i><\/a><\/p><\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

B.<\/span> The Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, in consultation with the Department<\/span> of Education, shall develop a list of items to be reviewed and evaluated in the school safety audits<\/span> required by this section. Such items shall include (i) those incidents reported to school authorities pursuant to § 22.1-279.3:1<\/a>; (ii) a school inspection walk-through using a standardized checklist provided by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, which shall incorporate crime<\/span> prevention through environmental design principles; and (iii) specific technology systems, including physical security technologies, emergency telecommunication systems, and associated technology including equipment and software.\n\t\t\tThe Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety shall prescribe a standardized report format for school safety audits<\/span>, additional reporting criteria, and procedures for report submission, which may include instructions for electronic submission.\n\t\t\tEach local school board<\/span> shall require all schools under its supervisory control to annually conduct school safety audits<\/span>, as defined in this section, consistent with such list and in collaboration with the chief law<\/span>-enforcement officer of the locality or his designee. As part of each such audit, the school board<\/span> shall create a detailed and accurate floor plan for each public school building in the local school division or shall certify that the existing floor plan for each such school is sufficiently detailed and accurate. In addition, a component of each such audit shall include a review of the school’s comprehensive plan for closures during public health emergencies.\n\t\t\tThe results of such school safety audits<\/span> shall be made public within 90 days of completion pursuant to this subsection. The local school board<\/span> shall retain authority to withhold or limit the release of any security plans, walk-through checklists, floor plans, and specific vulnerability assessment components as provided in subdivision 4 of § 2.2-3705.2<\/a>. The completed walk-through checklist shall be made available to the chief law<\/span>-enforcement officer of the locality or his designee. Each school shall maintain a copy of the school safety audit<\/span>, which may exclude such security plans, walk-through checklists, and vulnerability assessment components, within the office of the school principal and shall make a copy of such report available for review upon written request.\n\t\t\tEach school shall submit a copy of its school safety audit<\/span> to the relevant school division superintendent<\/span>. The division superintendent<\/span> shall collate and submit all such school safety audits<\/span>, in the prescribed format and manner of submission, to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety and shall make available to the chief law<\/span>-enforcement officer of the locality the results of such audits for his review and recommendations. <\/i><\/a><\/p><\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

C.<\/span> The division superintendent<\/span> shall establish a school safety audit<\/span> committee to include, if available, representatives of parents<\/span><\/span>, teachers, local law<\/span> enforcement, emergency services agencies, local community services<\/span> boards<\/span>, and judicial and public safety personnel. The school safety audit<\/span> committee shall review the completed school safety audits<\/span> and submit any plans, as needed, for improving school safety to the division superintendent<\/span> for submission to the local school board<\/span>. The division superintendent<\/span> or his designee and the school safety audit<\/span> committee may meet annually on the grounds of any public school in the local school division with the chief law<\/span>-enforcement officer of the locality or a designee from the local law<\/span>-enforcement agency to discuss the school safety audit<\/span> completed for such school. <\/i><\/a><\/p><\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

D.<\/span> Each school board<\/span> shall ensure that every school that it supervises shall develop a written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan<\/span>, consistent with the definition provided in this section, and shall include the chief law<\/span>-enforcement officer, the fire chief, the chief of the emergency medical services agency, the executive director of the relevant regional emergency medical services council, and the emergency management official of the locality, or their designees, in the development of such plans. Each school division shall designate an emergency manager. The Department<\/span> of Education and the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety shall provide technical assistance to the school divisions of the Commonwealth in the development of the school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans<\/span> that describe the components of a medical emergency response plan developed in coordination with local emergency medical services providers, the training of school personnel and students to respond to a life-threatening emergency, and the equipment required for this emergency response. The local school board<\/span>, the chief law<\/span>-enforcement officer, the fire chief, the chief of the emergency medical services agency, the executive director of the relevant regional emergency medical services council, and the emergency management official of the locality, or their designees, shall annually review the written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans<\/span>. The local school board<\/span> shall have the authority to withhold or limit the review of any security plans and specific vulnerability assessment components as provided in subdivision 4 of § 2.2-3705.2<\/a>. The local school division superintendent<\/span> shall certify this review in writing to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety no later than August 31 of each year.\n\t\t\tUpon consultation with local school boards<\/span>, division superintendents<\/span>, the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, and the Coordinator of Emergency Management, the Board of Education shall develop, and may revise as it deems necessary, a model school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan<\/span> for the purpose of assisting the public schools in the Commonwealth in developing viable, effective crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans. Such model shall set forth recommended effective procedures and means by which parents<\/span><\/span> can contact the relevant school or school division regarding the location and safety of their school children and by which school officials may contact parents<\/span><\/span>, with parental approval, during a critical event or emergency. <\/i><\/a><\/p><\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

E.<\/span> Each school board<\/span> shall ensure that every public school it supervises employs at least one school administrator who has completed, either in-person or online, school safety training for public school personnel conducted by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety in accordance with subdivision A 1 of § 9.1-184<\/a>. However, such requirement shall not apply if such required training is not available online. <\/i><\/a><\/p><\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

F.<\/span> Each division superintendent<\/span> shall annually designate an employee in the local school division as the division safety official whose duty is to receive all reports required pursuant to subsection A of § 19.2-83.1<\/a> and §§ 19.2-291.1<\/a> and 19.2-299.3<\/a> and shall include such designation in the collated packet of school safety audits<\/span> submitted to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety pursuant to subsection B. The designation required by this subsection shall include updated contact information for the division safety official, including (i) a current mailing address, (ii) a current working daytime phone number, and (iii) a current functional email address. It shall be the duty of the division superintendent<\/span> to update contact information required by this subsection within 48 hours of any change to such contact information. <\/i><\/a><\/p><\/section>","plain_text":" CODE OF VIRGINIA\n\nSCHOOL SAFETY AUDITS AND SCHOOL CRISIS, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, AND MEDICAL\nEMERGENCY RESPONSE PLANS REQUIRED (\u00a7 22.1-279.8)\n\nA. For the purposes of this section, unless the context requires otherwise:\n\t\t\t“School crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response\nplan” means the essential procedures, operations, and assignments required\nto prevent, manage, and respond to a critical event or emergency, including\nnatural disasters involving fire, flood, tornadoes, or other severe weather;\nloss or disruption of power, water, communications or shelter; bus or other\naccidents; medical emergencies, including cardiac arrest and other\nlife-threatening medical emergencies; student or staff member deaths;\nexplosions; bomb threats; gun, knife or other weapons threats; spills or\nexposures to hazardous substances; the presence of unauthorized persons or\ntrespassers; the loss, disappearance or kidnapping of a student; hostage\nsituations; violence on school property or at school activities; incidents\ninvolving acts of terrorism; and other incidents posing a serious threat of harm\nto students, personnel, or facilities. The plan shall include a provision that\nthe Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Criminal Injuries\nCompensation Fund shall be contacted immediately to deploy assistance in the\nevent of an emergency as defined in the emergency response plan when there are\nvictims as defined in § 19.2-11.01. The Department of Criminal Justice\nServices and the Virginia Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund shall be the lead\ncoordinating agencies for those individuals determined to be victims, and the\nplan shall also contain current contact information for both agencies.\n\t\t\t“School safety audit” means a written assessment of the safety\nconditions in each public school to (i) identify and, if necessary, develop\nsolutions for physical safety concerns, including building security issues, and\n(ii) identify and evaluate any patterns of student safety concerns occurring on\nschool property or at school-sponsored events. Solutions and responses shall\ninclude recommendations for structural adjustments, changes in school safety\nprocedures, and revisions to the school board’s standards for student\nconduct.\n\nB. The Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, in consultation with the\nDepartment of Education, shall develop a list of items to be reviewed and\nevaluated in the school safety audits required by this section. Such items shall\ninclude (i) those incidents reported to school authorities pursuant to §\n22.1-279.3:1; (ii) a school inspection walk-through using a standardized\nchecklist provided by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, which\nshall incorporate crime prevention through environmental design principles; and\n(iii) specific technology systems, including physical security technologies,\nemergency telecommunication systems, and associated technology including\nequipment and software.\n\t\t\tThe Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety shall prescribe a\nstandardized report format for school safety audits, additional reporting\ncriteria, and procedures for report submission, which may include instructions\nfor electronic submission.\n\t\t\tEach local school board shall require all schools under its supervisory\ncontrol to annually conduct school safety audits, as defined in this section,\nconsistent with such list and in collaboration with the chief law-enforcement\nofficer of the locality or his designee. As part of each such audit, the school\nboard shall create a detailed and accurate floor plan for each public school\nbuilding in the local school division or shall certify that the existing floor\nplan for each such school is sufficiently detailed and accurate. In addition, a\ncomponent of each such audit shall include a review of the school’s\ncomprehensive plan for closures during public health emergencies.\n\t\t\tThe results of such school safety audits shall be made public within 90 days\nof completion pursuant to this subsection. The local school board shall retain\nauthority to withhold or limit the release of any security plans, walk-through\nchecklists, floor plans, and specific vulnerability assessment components as\nprovided in subdivision 4 of § 2.2-3705.2. The completed walk-through\nchecklist shall be made available to the chief law-enforcement officer of the\nlocality or his designee. Each school shall maintain a copy of the school safety\naudit, which may exclude such security plans, walk-through checklists, and\nvulnerability assessment components, within the office of the school principal\nand shall make a copy of such report available for review upon written request.\n\t\t\tEach school shall submit a copy of its school safety audit to the relevant\nschool division superintendent. The division superintendent shall collate and\nsubmit all such school safety audits, in the prescribed format and manner of\nsubmission, to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety and shall make\navailable to the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality the results of\nsuch audits for his review and recommendations.\n\nC. The division superintendent shall establish a school safety audit committee\nto include, if available, representatives of parents, teachers, local law\nenforcement, emergency services agencies, local community services boards, and\njudicial and public safety personnel. The school safety audit committee shall\nreview the completed school safety audits and submit any plans, as needed, for\nimproving school safety to the division superintendent for submission to the\nlocal school board. The division superintendent or his designee and the school\nsafety audit committee may meet annually on the grounds of any public school in\nthe local school division with the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality\nor a designee from the local law-enforcement agency to discuss the school safety\naudit completed for such school.\n\nD. Each school board shall ensure that every school that it supervises shall\ndevelop a written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency\nresponse plan, consistent with the definition provided in this section, and\nshall include the chief law-enforcement officer, the fire chief, the chief of\nthe emergency medical services agency, the executive director of the relevant\nregional emergency medical services council, and the emergency management\nofficial of the locality, or their designees, in the development of such plans.\nEach school division shall designate an emergency manager. The Department of\nEducation and the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety shall provide\ntechnical assistance to the school divisions of the Commonwealth in the\ndevelopment of the school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency\nresponse plans that describe the components of a medical emergency response plan\ndeveloped in coordination with local emergency medical services providers, the\ntraining of school personnel and students to respond to a life-threatening\nemergency, and the equipment required for this emergency response. The local\nschool board, the chief law-enforcement officer, the fire chief, the chief of\nthe emergency medical services agency, the executive director of the relevant\nregional emergency medical services council, and the emergency management\nofficial of the locality, or their designees, shall annually review the written\nschool crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans. The\nlocal school board shall have the authority to withhold or limit the review of\nany security plans and specific vulnerability assessment components as provided\nin subdivision 4 of § 2.2-3705.2. The local school division superintendent\nshall certify this review in writing to the Virginia Center for School and\nCampus Safety no later than August 31 of each year.\n\t\t\tUpon consultation with local school boards, division superintendents, the\nVirginia Center for School and Campus Safety, and the Coordinator of Emergency\nManagement, the Board of Education shall develop, and may revise as it deems\nnecessary, a model school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency\nresponse plan for the purpose of assisting the public schools in the\nCommonwealth in developing viable, effective crisis, emergency management, and\nmedical emergency response plans. Such model shall set forth recommended\neffective procedures and means by which parents can contact the relevant school\nor school division regarding the location and safety of their school children\nand by which school officials may contact parents, with parental approval,\nduring a critical event or emergency.\n\nE. Each school board shall ensure that every public school it supervises employs\nat least one school administrator who has completed, either in-person or online,\nschool safety training for public school personnel conducted by the Virginia\nCenter for School and Campus Safety in accordance with subdivision A 1 of §\n9.1-184. However, such requirement shall not apply if such required training is\nnot available online.\n\nF. Each division superintendent shall annually designate an employee in the\nlocal school division as the division safety official whose duty is to receive\nall reports required pursuant to subsection A of § 19.2-83.1 and\n§§ 19.2-291.1 and 19.2-299.3 and shall include such designation in the\ncollated packet of school safety audits submitted to the Virginia Center for\nSchool and Campus Safety pursuant to subsection B. The designation required by\nthis subsection shall include updated contact information for the division\nsafety official, including (i) a current mailing address, (ii) a current working\ndaytime phone number, and (iii) a current functional email address. It shall be\nthe duty of the division superintendent to update contact information required\nby this subsection within 48 hours of any change to such contact information.\n\nHISTORY: 1997, c. 593; 1999, cc. 475, 516, \u00a7 22.1-278.1; 2001, cc. 436, 440,\n688, 820, 841; 2002, cc. 166, 221, 229, 235; 2003, c. 801; 2004, c. 690; 2005,\nc. 904; 2006, c. 43; 2007, c. 44; 2009, cc. 222, 269; 2012, c. 418; 2013, c.\n609; 2014, cc. 7, 158; 2015, cc. 502, 503; 2017, c. 778; 2019, cc. 141, 410,\n487, 488; 2020, c. 338; 2022, cc. 21, 22, 57; 2023, cc. 282, 283; 2024, c. 429;\n2025, cc. 232, 234, 573, 581.","edition":{"id":1,"name":"2025","slug":"2025","date_created":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","date_modified":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","current":1,"order_by":1,"last_import":null}}