The report is available through a link at the bottom of this page of the press release from the New York State Comptroller’s Office.

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The State Education Department (SED) needs to improve its efforts to ensure that school districts are following state requirements for school safety planning, including whether those plans should be shared with local first responders, according to an audit released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

The audit found that SED did not do enough to make sure that school districts were meeting the requirements under the Safe Schools Against Violence in Education (SAVE) Act. For instance, many of the school districts the auditors visited could not demonstrate they had adopted annual safety plans according to SED guidance, held public hearings on the proposals, and appointed some required personnel to district-wide safety teams or trained employees on the procedures.

“Horrific school shootings across the country show the urgent need for schools to remain vigilant against threats to student and teacher safety,” DiNapoli said. “New York schools are required to develop and regularly review safety plans as part of the SAVE Act. The State Education Department needs more staff and resources to help make sure those plans are developed and sound. I urge the state Legislature to look at this issue. We don’t want to nickel and dime the safety of our children.”

The audit released today is part of DiNapoli’s initiative to focus on educational issues in his new term. Upcoming reviews will look at safety planning at several local districts across New York and violence in New York City schools as well as New York City’s Universal Pre-K program. The audit released today looked at schools outside New York City. DiNapoli’s next audit on school safety examines the New York City Department of Education and New York City schools.

The SAVE Act, enacted in 2000, aims to prevent school violence and increase the safety of students and teachers in New York’s public schools. The act requires school districts to establish a code of conduct, mandates training and instruction for preventing and responding to school violence incidents, and creates a uniform system for reporting violent incidents.

The SAVE Act also requires schools and districts to be prepared to respond to incidents when they occur. Specifically, it requires public school districts, charter schools, and BOCES programs to develop comprehensive district-wide safety plans and building-level emergency response plans. They developed SED regulations to provide additional guidance and details on school safety planning requirements. The requirements outlined in the law and regulations applicable to public schools and districts, but not to private schools.

DiNapoli’s auditors examined SED’s oversight of school safety planning requirements from Sept. 1, 2016, through Sept. 27, 2018. They analyzed the available department data related to building plan submissions by school districts and reviewed and analyzed information related to school safety planning collected by SED.

Auditors found that SED is not providing critical oversight to ensure schools have adequate and up-to-date safety plans. While SED has collected certain required school safety planning information directly from the school districts, the department has not reviewed or verified what it has received or monitored school districts’ compliance with other requirements in the law or regulations. Absent more definite direction and oversight from the department, there is a risk that school districts will continue to misinterpret requirements related to the school safety plans.

During the audit period, SED had assigned just one staff member with part-time responsibility to oversee school safety planning requirements. SED appointed another staff member in spring 2018, but both individuals have other obligations, and neither can focus solely on monitoring school safety planning.

The audit also found that SED has primarily focused on ensuring districts submitted their building plans to the State Police annually. Their efforts resulted in ninety-nine percent of the required plans submitted to the State Police.

The law requires that school districts submit a copy of each building plan to local law enforcement. This requirement is among the most critical provisions in the act, as local law enforcement would likely be among the first on the scene of an emergency. Auditors found that due to the lack of a standardized procedure for submitting building plans to local law enforcement, SED does not have any assurances of compliance.

Auditors met with officials at 15 school districts (see audit for list) and reviewed the 14 public districts’ compliance with school safety planning requirements. DiNapoli’s audit found only partial compliance with the requirements. For example, 12 school districts did not have evidence of the required 30-day comment period for their district plan; 10 of the 14 communities had not completed annual staff training, and 9 of 14 districts did not include at least one of the required representatives on their safety teams. The 15th district is private and not subject to the SAVE Act.

SED never submitted any implementation report and compliance with the provisions of the law to the Governor and the Legislature, even though requirements to do so exist annually since 2000, auditors discovered. Without those reports, lawmakers don’t have the information necessary to evaluate whether the law is working as intended and whether protections are in place for children and staff.

DiNapoli recommended SED:

  • Develop a program to monitor school districts’ compliance with school safety planning requirements outlined in the law, regulations and SED guidance;
  • Clarify expectations for compliance with requirements under the law, regulations and department guidance including expectations for public comment periods, public hearings, plan adoption and training requirements; and
  • Prepare and submit the required annual reports to the Governor and the Legislature.

SED officials generally agreed with the audit recommendations and indicated they would act to address them. SED was awarded a five-year School Emergency Management Grant from the U.S. Department of Education in September 2018 and expected to use a portion of the funds to hire a full-time staff person to improve its oversight of emergency response planning requirements.

SED officials disagreed with the finding regarding the submission of plans to local law enforcement, stating that designs enter the Integrated Justice Portal. However, auditors found that this access is not always reliable for all local law enforcement agencies.

SED’s full response included in the final audit.

Read the report, or go to https://www.osc.state.ny.us/audits/allaudits/093019/sga-2019-18s34.pdf