SAFETY PROGRAM: EMERGENCY PLANS AND ALERTS

Emergency

Operations Plan

Each 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 (TxSSC) in conjunction with the governor’s office of homeland security, the commissioner of education, and the commissioner. 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 telephone, including a cellular telephone, or another electronic communication device 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. Measures to ensure coordination with the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and local emergency management agencies, law enforcement, health departments, and fire departments in the event of an emergency;

5. The implementation of a required safety and security audit [see CGA]; and

6. Any other requirements established by the TxSSC in consultation with the Texas Education Agency and relevant local law enforcement agencies.

Education Code 37.108(a)

Submission to TxSSC

Regular Review

TxSSC shall establish a random or need-based cycle for TxSSC's review and verification of a public junior college district’s multihazard emergency operations plan. The cycle must provide for each district's plan to be reviewed at regular intervals as determined by TxSSC. A public junior college district shall submit its multihazard emergency operations plan to TxSSC not later than the 30th day after the date TxSSC requests the submission and in accordance

with TxSSC's review cycle. TxSSC shall review each district's multihazard emergency operations plan submitted as described above and verify the plan meets the requirements of Education Code 37.108 or provide the district

with written notice:

1. Describing the plan's deficiencies;

2. Including specific recommendations to correct the deficiencies; and

3. Stating that the district must correct the deficiencies in its plan and resubmit the revised plan to TxSSC.

TxSSC may approve a district multihazard emergency operations plan that has deficiencies if the district submits a revised plan that TxSSC determines will correct the deficiencies.

Education Code 37.2071(a)-(c), (e)

Failure to Submit the Plan

If a district fails to submit its multihazard emergency operations plan to TxSSC for review following a notification by TxSSC that the district has failed to submit the district's plan, TxSSC shall provide the district with written notice stating that the district must hold a public hearing under Education Code 37.1081. Education Code

37.2071(d)

Failure to Respond to Notice

If one month after the date of initial notification of a plan's deficiencies a district has not corrected the plan deficiencies, TxSSC shall provide written notice to the district and agency that the district has not complied with the requirements of Education Code 37.2071 and must comply immediately. Education Code 37.2071(f)

Review Based on Audit Results

In addition to a review of a district's multihazard emergency operations plan, TxSSC may require a district to submit its plan for immediate review if the district's safety and security audit results indicate that the district is not complying with applicable standards.

Education Code 37.207(c)

Public Disclosure

A document relating to a public junior college district’s multihazard emergency operations plan is subject to disclosure if the document enables a person to:

1. Verify that the district has established a plan and determine the agencies involved in the development of the plan and the agencies coordinating with the district to respond to an emergency, including DSHS, local emergency services agencies, law enforcement agencies, health departments, and fire departments;

2. Verify that the district’s plan was reviewed within the last 12 months and determine the specific review dates;

3. Verify that the plan addresses the five phases of emergency management listed at Emergency Operations Plan;

4. Verify that district employees have been trained to respond to an emergency and determine the types of training, the number of employees trained, and the person conducting the training;

5. Verify that each campus in the district has conducted mandatory emergency drills and exercises in accordance with the plan and determine the frequency of the drills;

6. Verify that the district has completed a safety and security audit and determine the date the audit was conducted, the person conducting the audit, and the date the district presented the results of the audit to the district’s board of trustees [see CGA]; and

7. Verify that the district has addressed any recommendations by the district’s board of trustees for improvement of the plan and determine the district’s progress within the last 12 months.

Education Code 37.108(c-2)

Any document or information collected, developed, or produced during the review and verification of multihazard emergency operations plans under Education Code 37.2071 is not subject to disclosure under Government Code Chapter 552 (Texas Public Information Act). Education Code 37.2071(i)

Emergency

Response and

Evacuation

Procedures

Campus policies regarding immediate emergency response and evacuation procedures, including the use of electronic and cellular communication, if appropriate, shall include procedures to:

1. Immediately notify the campus community upon the confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or staff occurring on the campus, as defined in 20 U.S.C. 1092(f)(6), unless issuing a notification will compromise efforts to contain the emergency;

2. Publicize emergency response and evacuation procedures on an annual basis in a manner designed to reach students and staff; and

3. Test emergency response and evacuation procedures on an annual basis.

20 U.S.C. 1092(f)(1)(J)

Emergency Alert

System

Each institution of higher education, including each college district, shall establish an emergency alert system for the institution’s students and staff, including faculty. The emergency alert systemmust use email or telephone notifications in addition to any other alert method the institution considers appropriate to provide timely notification of emergencies affecting the institution or its students and staff.

At the time a student initially enrolls or registers for courses or a staff member begins employment, the institution shall:

1. Obtain a personal telephone number or email address from the student or staff member to be used to notify the individual in the event of an emergency; and

2. Register the student or staff member in the institution’s emergency alert system.

A student or staff member may elect not to participate in an emergency alert system. An election may be submitted electronically or in writing, as chosen by the institution, and must be renewed at the start of each academic year. The personal identifying information obtained from an individual for the purpose of the emergency alert system of an institution of higher education, including an email address or telephone number, is confidential and not subject to disclosure under Government Code 552.021.

Education Code 51.217(g), .218

Fire Escapes

The owner of a building shall equip the building with at least one fire escape and with additional fire escapes as required by Health and Safety Code Chapter 791, Subchapters C and D, if the building has at least:

1. Three stories and is used as a facility subject to Subchapter C, including a college, a dormitory, a theater or other public place of amusement, or any other facility used for public gatherings; or

2. Two stories and is used as a school.

A fire escape required by Chapter 791 must meet the specifications provided by Chapter 791 for an exterior stairway fire escape, an exterior chute fire escape, a combination of those exterior fire escapes, or an interior fire escape.

Chapter 791 does not apply to the construction of a structure in a municipality that has in effect a nationally recognized model building code governing the construction if the building code requires at least one one-hour fire-resistive means of escape with a total width equal to or greater than the total exit width required under Chapter 791 for a structure of three or more stories.

Health and Safety Code 791.002, .004(a), .021

[See GGE for response to requests from other governmental enti-

ties for mutual aid]