Provides relative to emergency operations plans at public schools

House Bill 624 amends Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:416.16 to comprehensively revise the framework governing emergency operations plans at public schools. The bill renames "crisis management and response" plans as "emergency operations" plans and redefines the planning team as the "District safety and emergency team" rather than the previous "District threat assessment team," now requiring representatives from school facilities, transportation, nutrition, curriculum, student services, athletics, logistics, mental health, medical services, technology, and special education alongside an "emergency response coordinator," a public information officer, and principals from elementary, middle, and high schools. The bill modifies classroom door security requirements to mandate that all classroom and instructional spaces be locked and secured when occupied by students except during class transitions, with active staffing by an authorized person if doors must remain unlocked for any other reason, while retaining existing fire safety compliance standards. The bill also establishes new classification systems for emergency preparedness exercises, distinguishing between discussion-based exercises such as orientation seminars, workshops, and tabletop exercises, and operations-based exercises including drills, functional exercises, and full-scale exercises. Additionally, the bill replaces the prior reporting mechanism whereby local superintendents reported to school boards and submitted copies to the state Department of Education and Louisiana Center for Safe Schools with a new requirement that schools and districts complete annual safety questionnaires developed jointly by the Center for Safe Schools and the Department of Education, with questionnaires submitted within sixty instructional days of each school year.

The practical effect of these changes impacts all public school districts, individual public schools, their principals, and local law enforcement and emergency response partners involved in plan development and execution. Public school principals must now establish emergency response coordinators who oversee plan development and associated training, and must ensure their district safety and emergency team includes representatives across the functional areas specified in the statute rather than the previously limited team composition. School facilities managers and security personnel face more stringent requirements to maintain locked classroom doors during instructional time while managing access between class periods and ensuring that any unlocked spaces are actively staffed. Teachers and school employees will participate in revised training protocols that include active assailant exercises conducted annually within the first thirty instructional days and additional drills during high-traffic periods. Local law enforcement, fire departments, and emergency management officials continue their role in plan preparation and presentation but may have modified coordination mechanisms through the new emergency response coordinator position. School principals must now complete annual safety questionnaires and submit them to state authorities rather than maintaining a distribution list, reducing administrative burden on local superintendents while increasing state-level data collection on school safety compliance.

The bill operates within the existing statutory framework of Louisiana education law found in Title 17 of Louisiana Revised Statutes and maintains consistency with the fire safety standards previously required by the office of state fire marshal. The amendments preserve the exemption of emergency operations plans from Louisiana Public Records Law under R.S. 44:3.1, continuing to shield these sensitive security documents from public disclosure. The bill extends these requirements to charter schools through R.S. 17:3996(B)(33), ensuring that charter schools remain subject to the same emergency operations planning mandates as traditional public schools. The legislation also references the Louisiana Commission on School and Nonprofit Security established under R.S. 29:726.5 et seq. and the Louisiana Center for Safe Schools created under R.S. 29:276.5.1, integrating these state-level resources into the planning and data collection processes. The bill repeals R.S. 17:416.16(G)(4) and (5), removing provisions no longer necessary under the revised reporting structure, and directs the Louisiana State Law Institute to alphabetize and renumber the defined terms in the statute to maintain proper codification standards.