Education Law §807 requires that New York State public and nonpublic schools conduct four lockdown and eight evacuation drills each school year (September 1 - June 30), with at least eight of the required drills being conducted by December 31 of each school year. Two additional evacuation drills must be conducted during summer school (July 1 - August 30).

While Education Law §807 requires that schools conduct four lockdown and eight evacuation drills, Education Law §2801-a and Commissioner’s Regulation §155.17 require that school building-level emergency response plans include policies and procedures for response to emergency situations, such as those requiring evacuation, sheltering, and lockdown. Therefore, such plans must include policies and procedures for how the school will Shelter-in Place, Hold-in Place, Evacuate, Lockout, and Lockdown in an emergency. Please see the end of this document for a description of each of the response terms and the recommended actions for each.

Building-level Emergency Response Plans:
The proposed rule amends the building-level emergency response plan provisions of section 155.17 to:

• Require that drills: (1) be conducted in a trauma-informed, developmentally and age-appropriate manner; not include props, actors, simulations, or other tactics intended to mimic a school shooting, incident of violence, or other emergency; and that students and staff be informed when a school is conducting a drill; (2) occur after annual training in emergency procedures has been provided to students and staff; and (3) be completed on different days of the week and during different times of the school day.

Evacuation and Lockdown Drills:

• The proposed regulation sets forth evacuation and lockdown drill requirements as provided in Education Law §807 and requires that one emergency dismissal drill be conducted to test emergency response procedures that require early dismissal.

The amendments would take effect beginning with the 2024-25 school year.

Non-substantial Revisions to the Proposed Rule:

 The Department has made non-substantial revisions to the proposed rule since publication of the Notice of Proposed Rule Making in the State Register by clarifying the following:

• for evacuation drills, students and staff do not need to be informed that the activities being conducted are a drill. This is consistent with the requirements in the New York State Fire Code;

• information that must be included in the district-wide school safety plan about a multi-disciplinary behavioral assessment team, behavioral assessment team, or a county or regional threat assessment team is only required if district staff are participating in such a team. It does not require that a district or school adopt such a team;

• drills must be conducted on different dates as well as days of the week, and times of day;

• notice to parents and those in parental relations regarding drills must be made within one week before each drill; and

• the term “school health personnel” is replaced with the term “school health professionals” as defined in Education Law §902.