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S2209ASchool Safety

Education - Health and Safety of Pupils

This bill adds a representative from the Rhode Island School Resource Officer Association to the state's school safety committee.

Introduced71 Yea0 Nay4 Not voting
Population
Affected
35
Email Legislator
Introduced Jan 23, 2026Committee Senate Education

Plain-English Summary

The bill adds one member to the Rhode Island school safety committee, increasing its size from twelve to thirteen members. The new member will be a representative from the Rhode Island School Resource Officer Association, chosen by the association. The committee is responsible for providing safety training, reviewing safety assessments, and offering recommendations to school districts to improve the safety of students and staff.

For younger readers

Rhode Island has a special group of adults who make sure our schools are safe and ready for emergencies. This group includes police officers, fire chiefs, and teachers. This new rule adds one more person to that group, bringing the total from 12 to 13 people. The new person will be a school resource officer, which is a police officer who works specifically inside a school.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
StudentsTeachersSchool administratorsLaw enforcementSchool resource officers
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Incorporates direct feedback from school resource officers into state-level planning, which could help identify and reform problematic policing practices within schools.
  • Supports the welfare of the school community by ensuring that safety protocols are informed by those who are physically present in the schools every day.
  • Maintains a multidisciplinary approach to school safety that continues to include mental health experts, teachers, and emergency management personnel to support student well-being.
  • Increases the presence and influence of law enforcement on the school safety committee, which progressives often argue contributes to the school-to-prison pipeline.
  • Fails to add more representation for mental health professionals, social workers, or student advocates, prioritizing a policing perspective over restorative justice or emotional support.
  • Continues to exempt school safety committee meetings and documents from open meetings and public records laws, which reduces transparency and prevents community oversight of school policing policies.
For Conservatives
  • Strengthens the role of law enforcement in school safety planning by adding a dedicated representative for school resource officers.
  • Prioritizes the physical security and protection of students and faculty by ensuring law enforcement expertise is well-represented on the state committee.
  • Maintains strict confidentiality of school safety assessments by keeping them exempt from public records laws, preventing sensitive security information from falling into the wrong hands.
  • Expands the size of a government committee, marginally increasing the bureaucratic footprint of the state government.
  • Retains a mandate that forces local school districts to submit to state-level committee reviews and recommendations, which some may view as an infringement on local control of schools.
  • Continues to give significant influence to teachers' unions on the safety committee, which conservatives often view as overly politicized organizations.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

2 versions
Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 5 additions · 1 deletion

SECTION 1. Section 16-21-23 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-21 entitled "Health and Safety of Pupils" is hereby amended to read as follows: 16-21-23. School safety teams, school crisis response teams, and school safety assessments.

(a) Each school district of each town, city, and regional school department shall conduct a school safety assessment in conjunction with local police, fire, school safety team pursuant to the provisions of this section and any other expert said school department deems necessary. The assessment shall examine the current status of each school building’s safety and shall be performed within thirty (30) days of passage of this act, and every three (3) years thereafter.

(1) There shall be a Rhode Island school safety committee whose functions shall include, but not be limited to, providing training to law enforcement, school administrators, and teachers; collecting and reviewing all hazard safety security assessments; and offering recommendations and assistance to each school district of every town, city, and regional school department, in an effort to increase the safety of students and faculty. The committee shall be comprised of twelve (12) thirteen (13) members as follows: the superintendent of the Rhode Island state police or designee, who shall serve as chairperson of the committee; the president of the Police Chiefs’ Association, or designee; a representative from the Rhode Island School Resource Officer Association, to be selected by the association; the director of the Rhode Island emergency management agency, or designee; the commissioner of the department of elementary and secondary education, or designee; a representative from the Rhode Island School Superintendents’ Association, to be selected by the association; the director of the department of behavioral healthcare, developmental disabilities and hospitals, or designee; the state fire marshal, or designee; a representative of the Rhode Island Association of School Maintenance Directors, to be selected by the association; a representative from the Rhode Island Association of School Principals, to be selected by the association; a representative from the Rhode Island Association of School Committees, to be selected by the association; a representative from the National Education Association of Rhode Island (“NEARI”), who shall be a full-time classroom teacher, to be selected by the president of NEARI; and one representative from the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals (“RIFTHP”), who shall be a full-time classroom teacher, to be selected by the president of the RIFTHP.

(2) Each school department of each town, city, and regional school district shall complete the emergency action plan and shall submit the all hazards site safety survey report to the Rhode Island school safety committee every three (3) years for the committee’s review and recommendation.

(3) The assessment shall be completed by November 1 of the year mandated, and by December 31 of that year, the commissioner of elementary and secondary education shall report to the speaker of the house, the senate president, and the governor that the assessments have been completed. Assessments performed within a year of the date of passage of this act shall satisfy this requirement.

(4) All meetings regarding the school safety assessment are not subject to the open meetings law pursuant to chapter 46 of title 42, and documents produced including, but not limited to, meeting minutes and the school safety assessment are not subject to the access to public records law pursuant to chapter 2 of title 38.

(b) The school committee of each town, city, and regional school department shall review and adopt in executive session a comprehensive school safety plan regarding crisis intervention, emergency response, and management. The plan shall be developed by a school safety team comprised of representatives of the school committee; representatives of student, teacher, and parent organizations; school safety personnel; school administration; and members of local law enforcement, fire, and emergency personnel. Members of the school safety team shall be appointed by the school committee and/or school superintendent of the town, city, or regional school district. In creating the school safety plan, the school safety team(s) shall consult the model school safety plan developed by the department of elementary and secondary education pursuant to § 16-21-23.1.

(c) The school crisis response team shall be comprised of those selected school personnel willing to serve as members of a psychological response team to address the psychological and emotional needs of the school community, and may seek mental health resources from the department of elementary and secondary education. Members of the school crisis response team may coordinate mental health services for those students and school employees affected by acts of violence in the schools, using resources available through the department of elementary and secondary education.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.