Board approves safety policy updates: 48-hour parent notice, quarterly threat reports, fire drill limits and training for student searches

The Coffee County Board of Education approved several safety-oriented policy revisions on Tuesday, updating how the district reports threats, responds to alarms and conducts searches of students.

Threat assessment: The board approved changes to policy 3.204 requiring threat-assessment teams at each school to notify parents or guardians within 48 hours if the district reports an incident to law enforcement. The policy also requires schools to submit quarterly incident reports to central office for presentation to the school board. Board members discussed that threat-assessment teams typically include school resource officers, counselors and administrators; the board clarified these are school-level teams rather than a single countywide team.

Emergency preparedness and fire drills: The board approved an amended emergency preparedness plan (policy 3.202) reflecting new statutory language that allows "no more than two" fire drills within the first 30 days of school; the board noted district practice has not changed and that the policy mirrors statutory language. The updated emergency preparedness policy also requires the district to work with local law enforcement and fire departments to establish a procedure for identifying the cause of fire-alarm activations, to be in place by Jan. 1, 2025.

Student searches and training: The board approved amendments to the interrogation and searches policy (6.303) to require that searches of students be carried out only by a school resource officer, a school security officer, or an administrator who has completed the state'required training. Board staff said local personnel have already completed training and additional sessions will be provided to principals.

Motion and outcome: All listed safety-related policy amendments were approved by the board during the meeting.