(1) Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, each local school district superintendent shall appoint an individual to serve as the district’s school safety coordinator and primary point of contact for public school safety and security functions.
(2) The district’s school safety coordinator shall:

Terms Used In Kentucky Statutes 158.4412

  • School safety: means a program of prevention that protects students and staff from substance abuse, violence, bullying, theft, the sale or use of illegal substances, exposure to weapons and threats on school grounds, and injury from severe weather, fire, and natural disasters. See Kentucky Statutes 158.441
  • School security: means procedures followed and measures taken to ensure the security of school buildings, classrooms, and other school facilities and properties. See Kentucky Statutes 158.441
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes territories, outlying possessions, and the District of Columbia. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Year: means calendar year. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010

(a) Complete the school safety coordinator training program developed by the Center for School Safety within six (6) months of his or her date of appointment;
(b) Designate a school safety and security threat assessment team at each school of the district consisting of two (2) or more staff members in accordance with policies and procedures adopted by the local board of education to identify and respond to students exhibiting behavior that indicates a potential threat to school safety or security. Members of a threat assessment team may include school administrators, school counselors, school resource officers, school- based mental health services providers, teachers, and other school personnel;
(c) Provide training to school principals within the district on procedures for completion of the school security risk assessment required pursuant to KRS
158.4410;
(d) Review all school security risk assessments completed within the district and prescribe recommendations as needed in consultation with the state school security marshal;
(e) Advise the local school district superintendent by July 1, 2021, and annually thereafter of completion of required security risk assessments;
(f) Formulate recommended policies and procedures, which shall be excluded from the application of KRS § 61.870 to KRS § 61.884, for an all-hazards approach including conducting emergency response drills for hostage, active shooter, and building lockdown situations in consultation and coordination with appropriate public safety agencies to include but not be limited to fire, police, and emergency medical services for review and adoption as part of the school emergency plan required by KRS § 158.162. The recommended policies shall encourage the involvement of students, as appropriate, in the development of the school’s emergency plan; and
(g) Ensure each school campus is toured at least once per school year, in consultation and coordination with appropriate public safety agencies, to review policies and procedures and provide recommendations related to school safety and security.
(3) The school district, school safety coordinator, and any school employees participating in the activities of a school safety and security threat assessment team, acting in good faith upon reasonable cause in the identification of students pursuant
to subsection (2)(b) of this section shall be immune from any civil or criminal liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed from:
(a) Identifying the student and implementing a response pursuant to policies and procedures adopted under subsection (2)(b) of this section; or
(b) Participating in any judicial proceeding that results from the identification.
Effective: February 21, 2020
History: Amended 2020 Ky. Acts ch. 5, sec. 2, effective February 21, 2020. — Created
2019 Ky. Acts ch. 5, sec. 5, effective March 11, 2019.