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Behavioral Health | Bullying / Violence / Terrorism | Crisis Plans | Drills | Medical | Other | Panic Buttons | Prohibited Substances | School Resource Officers | Student Discipline | Suicide Prevention | Surveillance Cameras | Transportation | Visitor/Volunteer Management | Weapons
Behavioral Health
R.S. 17:271.1 and R.S. 17:3996 (B)
To enact R.S. 17:271.1 and 3996(B), relative to curricula; to require the provision of mental health instruction to public school students; to provide relative to content of the instruction; to provide for incorporation of the instruction into an existing required course; to provide relative to the mental health component of the state content standards for health education.
Sponsor: Representative Royce Duplessis
Current Status: Signed by Governor – Act 650
Effective Date: 8/1/2022
Exemptions from compulsory attendance; Required mental health instruction; Youth suicide prevention programs; Establishment of substance abuse programs; Trauma-informed mental health screening; Registration of health centers in schools
Sponsor: C. Denise Marcelle
Current Status: Signed by Governor – Act 318
Effective Date: 8/1/2023
Requests the state Department of Education, Department of Children and Family Services, and Louisiana Department of Health to collaborate to increase mental health counseling in public schools.
Sponsor: Representative Laurie Schlegel
Provides relative to behavioral health services for students.
Sponsor: Representative Dustin Miller
Current Status: Signed by Governor - Act 745
Effective Date: 6/19/2024
Requires city, parish and other local public school boards to adopt and implement a program to facilitate behavior health intervention and referral for treatment.
Sponsor: Senator Beth Mizell
Current Status: Signed by Governor - Act 324
Effective Date: 8/1/2024
Bullying / Violence / Terrorism
Louisiana School and Student Safety Act
Definitions
- R.S. 17:409.3
Mandatory reporting of threats of violence or terrorism - R.S. 17:409.4
Investigation of threats of violence or terrorism - R.S. 17: 409.5
Restrictions on and examination of the investigated student
R.S. 17:416.14
Bullying (definition, prohibition, reporting, and accountability)
Battery of a school teacher
Battery of a school or recreation athletic contest official
Assault on a school teacher
Harassment of a school or recreation athletic contest official
Terrorizing; menacing (threats to the school causing evacuation or disruption)
Unlawful disruption of the operation of a school
Communicating of false information of planned bombing on school property or school-sponsored function
Safety education; recognition and reporting of potential threats to safety
Hazing; public elementary & secondary students
Crisis Plans
Requires school crisis management and response plans, including requirements relative to their preparation, content, review, revision, and rehearsal.
Sponsor: Senator Barry Milligan
Current Status: Signed by the Governor – Act 334
Effective Date: 6/13/2024
Drills
Requires a safety drill within the first 30 days of the school year, to include an active shooter scenario; requires at least one additional drill during high traffic or transition points in the school day.
Sponsor: Senator Barry Milligan
Current Status: Signed by the Governor – Act 334
Effective Date: 6/13/2024
LA State Fire Marshall Interpretive Memorandum 2018-02
Fire Alarms and Operations in Educational Occupancies
Allows for Fire Drills to be scheduled in advance and shared with staff/authorized persons
https://www.lasfm.org/media/fimnzw4v/im_2018-02.pdf
LA State Fire Marshall Interpretive Memorandum 2020-01 – RESCINDED
Emergency Egress Drill Procedures during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Stay in place Fire Drills no longer authorized; required number of drills; drills shall be conducted on the fire alarm system
https://www.lasfm.org/media/agdpu1rm/im_2020-01_rescindedx2.pdf
Medical
To urge and request the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, through the state Department of Education, to develop and implement a traumatic injury response program to ensure that each city, parish, or other local public school in the state is prepared to respond to a traumatic injury emergency.
Sponsor: Senator Barry Milligan
Current Status: Sent to the Secretary of State
Effective Date: 6/4/2020
Requires an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) at all education institutions and at school sponsored athletic events; specifies AED/CPR training requirements; requires development and implementation of a cardiac emergency response plan.
Sponsor: Senator Cleo Fields
Current Status: Signed by the Governor – Act 234
Provides relative to the provision of cardiac health information to student athletes and their parents.
Sponsor: Representative Mike Johnson
Current Status: Signed by the Governor - Act 95
Effective Date: 8/1/2024
Requires CPR/AED training for coaches in Louisiana.
Sponsor: Senator William "Bill" Wheat, Jr.
Current Status: Signed by the Governor - Act 421
Effective Date: 8/1/2024
Provides relative to the administration of medication at school.
Sponsor: Representative Paula Davis
Current Status: Signed by the Governor - Act 378
Effective Date: 8/1/2024
R.S. 40:1142
Provides relative to stock emergency medications.
Sponsor: Representative Paula Davis
Current Status: Signed by the Governor - Act 657
Effective Date: 8/1/2024
Other
Sexting- Prohibits using a computer or telecommunication device to transmit or receive indecent images of persons under 17 years of age
Creates the Louisiana Foundational Integrated Research System for Transformation (LA FIRST); LA FIRST shall be developed and maintained by the Board of Regents at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette within the Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Public Policy Center
Requests the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to study the advisability and feasibility of requiring metal detection devices in public schools.
Sponsor: Representative Ed Larvadain III
Provides relative to mandatory reporters of child abuse.
Sponsor: Representative Kim Carver
Current Status: Signed by the Governor - Act 216
Provides relative to the unauthorized possession of electronic telecommunication devices at school.
Sponsor: Senator Beth Mizell
Current Status: Signed by the Governor - Act 313
Effective Date: 5/28/2024
R.S. 17:410.1, R.S. 44:3.1 , R.S. 44:4(40)
Blueprints or floor plans of the interior of a school building or facility are confidential and are exempt from the Public Records Law.
Intimidation and interference in the operation of schools
Prohibited sexual contact between an educator and a student
Wearing or possessing body armor by a student or nonstudent on school property or at school sponsored functions
Unlawful use of an unmanned aircraft system
Panic Buttons
Requires the Louisiana Center for Safe Schools to provide a statewide Panic emergency notification system and an anonymous reporting system; Requires each city, state, or other local school board to implement the use of a panic emergency notification system and anonymous reporting system of equal or greater capability.
Prohibited Substances
Unauthorized possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages on public school property
Prohibition against the use of tobacco in schools
Smoking prohibited near school property
Drug free zone sign requirements
School Resource Officers
Requires a public school system that has entered into an agreement with a local law enforcement agency to provide for school resource officers to annually report to the state Department of Education the total number of school resource officers provided to the system.
Student Discipline
To amend and reenact R.S. 17:3911(B)(1)(i) and (l) and 3912(A) and (B) and to enact R.S. 17:416.19(D) and 3911(B)(1)(m), relative to information on school safety and discipline; to require the collection and reporting of certain information relative to school safety and discipline; and to provide for related matters.
To amend and reenact R.S. 17:416 and 3996(B)(40), relative to student discipline; to provide for a comprehensive revision of student discipline laws; to provide relative to student codes of conduct, the use of and procedures for expulsion, damages to property, possession of weapons and drugs, and conferences with parents; to require certain reporting by the state Department of Education.
R.S. 17:416.1 (B) and R.S.17:416.22
Corporal punishment prohibited without parental consent.
Corporal Punishment Incidence Checklist
Sponsor: Representative Stephanie Hilferty
Current Status: Signed by the Governor - Act 268
Effective Date: 8/1/2023
Provides relative to student discipline.
Sponsor: Representative Joe Stagni
Current Status: Signed by Governor - Act 400
Effective Date: 8/1/2024
Protect Teachers Act” (Immunity from civil liability for act or failure to act in directing of student discipline; justifiable defense to protect from a battery; no requirement to intervene in a battery committed by a student)
Sponsor: Representative Valarie Hodges
Current Status: Signed by the Governor - Act 56
Effective Date: 8/1/2023
Suicide Prevention
Requires every public and approved nonpublic secondary school to print "988" on the back of all school IDs.
Sponsor: Senator Regina Ashford Barrow
Current Status: Signed by the Governor - Act 331
Effective Date: 7/1/2024
Surveillance Cameras
R.S. 17:1948
Policies for cameras in certain classrooms
Sponsor: Senator Franklin J. Foil
Current Status: Signed by the Governor – Act 588
Effective Date: 6/17/2022
School surveillance and security video footage exemption; limited retention and viewing policies
Sponsor: Representative Ken Brass
Current Status: Signed by the Governor – Act 301
Effective Date: 6/13/2023
Transportation
Carpool and bus line safety policy for K-5.
Loading and unloading students from a school bus
School bus operators under 18 years of age prohibited
Visitor/Volunteer Management
R.S. 14:91.2
Unlawful presence of a sex offender
Louisiana State Police List of Sexual Offenses and Offender Tiers
https://www.lsp.org/community-outreach/sex-offender-registry/offenses/
R.S. 17:416.10
Visitor authorization for public elementary or secondary school grounds
Authorizes school boards to provide for chaplains to serve in public schools as employees or on a volunteer basis.
Sponsor: Representative Beryl Amedee
Current Status: Signed by the Governor - Act 688
Provides relative to the employment or acceptance of volunteer chaplains in public schools.
Sponsor: Senator Mark Abraham
Current Status: Signed by the Governor - Act 293
Search of persons entering public school buildings or grounds
Entry or remaining on site of a school or recreation athletic contest after being forbidden
Unlawful presence of a sexually violent predator
Weapons
Carrying a firearm on school property or in a firearm-free zone