What's happening
This bill requires public and private schools in New York to conduct active shooter and lock-down drills as part of their emergency preparedness.
Why it matters
Expands safety training requirements. The bill mandates that all public and private schools (excluding colleges and universities) must conduct both lock-down and active shooter drills, ensuring students and staff are specifically prepared for violent intruder scenarios—not just fires or general emergencies.
Addresses contemporary threats. By explicitly requiring active shooter drills, the bill responds to the rising concern over school shootings, aiming to make emergency preparedness more relevant to current risks and potentially saving lives through practiced, coordinated responses.
Provides expert guidance. Schools can request recommendations from New York State School Safety Improvement Teams on how to effectively conduct lock-down and active shooter drills, helping institutions implement best practices and maintain consistency across the state.
May impact school climate and well-being. Introducing regular active shooter drills could affect students' and staff members’ sense of safety and anxiety levels, raising questions about the balance between preparedness and potential psychological impacts.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Require Active Shooter Drills
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to education
- Referred to education
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
310
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by Sen. FELDER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to establishing active shooter drills at public and private educational institutions
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 807 of the education law, as amended by section 2 of part B of chapter 54 of the laws of 2016, is amended to read as follows:
1. It shall be the duty of the principal or other person in charge of every public or private school or educational institution within the state, other than colleges or universities, to instruct and train the pupils by means of drills, so that they may in a sudden emergency be able to respond appropriately in the shortest possible time and without confusion or panic. Such drills shall be held at least twelve times in each school year, eight of which required drills shall be held between September first and December thirty-first of each such year. Eight of all such drills shall be evacuation drills, four of which shall be through use of the fire escapes on buildings where fire escapes are provided or through the use of identified secondary means of egress. Four of all such required drills shall be emergency attack drills, with two of such drills being lock-down drills and two of such drills being active shooter drills. Upon request of the principal or other person in charge of such public or private educational institution, the New York state school safety improvement teams, established pursuant to section twenty-eight hundred one-b of this chapter, shall provide recommendations on how to perform such lock-down and active shooter drills at such public or private educational institution. Drills shall be conducted at different times of the school day. Pupils shall be instructed in the procedure to be followed in the event that a fire occurs during the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02804-01-9
S. 310 2
lunch period or assembly, provided however, that such additional instruction may be waived where a drill is held during the regular school lunch period or assembly. Four additional drills shall be held in each school year during the hours after sunset and before sunrise in school buildings in which students are provided with sleeping accommodations. At least two additional drills shall be held during summer school in buildings where summer school is conducted, and one of such drills shall be held during the first week of summer school.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the education law, in relation to establishing active shooter drills at public and private educational institutions
Purpose
This bill would require school emergency response drills to include drills on responding to an active shooter and other lethal attackers, and require school safety improvement teams (an interdisciplinary team of representatives from the division of homeland security, division of state police, division of criminal justice services and the department of education) to provide recommendations on how to perform such lock- down and active shooter drills at such public or private educational institutions.
Summary of provisions
This bill would amend section 807 of the education law to require that two of the four annual "Lock-Down Drills" conducted by schools during the twelve emergency (fire) drills be "active shooter drills". It would further provide that schools can request school safety improvement teams to provide recommendations on how to conduct lock down and active shoot- er drills.
Justification
Recent school attacks across the nation have demonstrated an important need to increase security at schools. Sadly, the threat of deranged individuals entering a school to inflict harm is more common now than ever.
Just as schools conduct fire drills in order that students and faculty know what to do in case of a fire, conducting active shooter drills will ensure students are equally prepared to take protective action in the event an active shooter entering a school. Schools are already required to conduct 12 emergency drills each school year. This bill would merely mandate that two of those drills be in response to an active shooter or any other lethal attacker at a school.
This bill would also allow schools to call upon the expertise of the interdisciplinary school safety improvement teams, established under section 2801-b of the education law, to properly design and coordinate effective drills to properly protect students, faculty, administration and visitors.
According to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, 97% of school districts perform fire drills, while only 67% of school districts conduct active shooter drills. It's everyone's worst nightmare for an active shooter to attack a school, but now more than ever schools need to be prepared. By requiring schools to conduct age-appropriate exercises, this bill ensures that all schools in our state will know what to do in a worst-case scenario.
Legislative history
2018: S.7845 - Passed Senate
Fiscal implications
None Noted
Effective date
This act would take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.