87R77 JES-D
 
  By: Thierry H.B. No. 204
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to requiring school districts and open-enrollment charter
  schools to provide a landline telephone or panic button in every
  classroom.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 37.108(a) and (f), Education Code, are
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  Each school district or public junior college district
  shall adopt and implement a multihazard emergency operations plan
  for use in the district's facilities.  The plan must address
  prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery as
  defined by the Texas School Safety Center in conjunction with the
  governor's office of homeland security and the commissioner of
  education or commissioner of higher education, as applicable.  The
  plan must provide for:
               (1)  training in responding to an emergency for
  district employees, including substitute teachers;
               (2)  measures to ensure district employees, including
  substitute teachers, have classroom access to:
                     (A)  a landline telephone or panic button, if the
  plan applies to a school district, allowing for immediate contact
  with district emergency services or emergency services agencies,
  law enforcement agencies, health departments, and fire
  departments; or
                     (B)  a telephone, including a cellular telephone,
  or another electronic communication device, if the plan applies to
  a junior college district, allowing for immediate contact with
  district emergency services or emergency services agencies, law
  enforcement agencies, health departments, and fire departments;
               (3)  measures to ensure district communications
  technology and infrastructure are adequate to allow for
  communication during an emergency;
               (4)  if the plan applies to a school district,
  mandatory school drills and exercises, including drills required
  under Section 37.114, to prepare district students and employees
  for responding to an emergency;
               (5)  measures to ensure coordination with the
  Department of State Health Services and local emergency management
  agencies, law enforcement, health departments, and fire
  departments in the event of an emergency; and
               (6)  the implementation of a safety and security audit
  as required by Subsection (b).
         (f)  A school district shall include in its multihazard
  emergency operations plan:
               (1)  a chain of command that designates the individual
  responsible for making final decisions during a disaster or
  emergency situation and identifies other individuals responsible
  for making those decisions if the designated person is unavailable;
               (2)  provisions that address physical and
  psychological safety for responding to a natural disaster, active
  shooter, and any other dangerous scenario identified for purposes
  of this section by the agency or the Texas School Safety Center;
               (3)  provisions for ensuring the safety of students in
  portable buildings;
               (4)  provisions for ensuring that students and district
  personnel with disabilities are provided equal access to safety
  during a disaster or emergency situation;
               (5)  provisions for providing immediate notification
  to parents, guardians, and other persons standing in parental
  relation in circumstances involving a significant threat to the
  health or safety of students, including identification of the
  individual with responsibility for overseeing the notification;
               (6)  provisions for supporting the psychological
  safety of students, district personnel, and the community during
  the response and recovery phase following a disaster or emergency
  situation that:
                     (A)  are aligned with best practice-based
  programs and research-based practices recommended under Section
  38.351 [161.325, Health and Safety Code];
                     (B)  include strategies for ensuring any required
  professional development training for suicide prevention and
  grief-informed and trauma-informed care is provided to appropriate
  school personnel;
                     (C)  include training on integrating
  psychological safety and suicide prevention strategies into the
  district's plan, such as psychological first aid for schools
  training, from an approved list of recommended training established
  by the commissioner and Texas School Safety Center for:
                           (i)  members of the district's school safety
  and security committee under Section 37.109;
                           (ii)  district school counselors and mental
  health professionals; and
                           (iii)  educators and other district
  personnel as determined by the district;
                     (D)  include strategies and procedures for
  integrating and supporting physical and psychological safety that
  align with the provisions described by Subdivision (2); and
                     (E)  implement trauma-informed policies;
               (7)  a policy for providing a substitute teacher access
  to school campus buildings and materials necessary for the
  substitute teacher to carry out the duties of a district employee
  during an emergency or a mandatory emergency drill; [and]
               (8)  the name of each individual on the district's
  school safety and security committee established under Section
  37.109 and the date of each committee meeting during the preceding
  year; and
               (9)  certification that the district is in compliance
  with Section 37.116, which requires each classroom in the district
  to be equipped with a landline telephone or panic button.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter D, Chapter 37, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 37.116 to read as follows:
         Sec. 37.116.  REQUIRED CLASSROOM LANDLINE TELEPHONE OR PANIC
  BUTTON. Each school district and open-enrollment charter school
  shall provide each classroom in the district or school with a
  landline telephone or panic button that allows for immediate
  contact with district emergency services or emergency services
  agencies, law enforcement agencies, health departments, and fire
  departments.
         SECTION 3.  This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024
  school year.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2021.