Amherst Central School District holds public hearing on safety plan addition for cardiac emergencies

Unidentified Speaker 1 opened a public hearing to present a revised Amherst Central School District safety and emergency response plan that adds a cardiac emergency response plan (CERP) required under recently enacted state guidance referred to in the meeting as Deja's Law. The presenter said the district developed the CERP with school nurses and the district medical director during July and August and that the appendix is now part of the district-level safety plan that the board must adopt in public session.

Why it matters: The presenter said the statute requires three components in the CERP: personnel training (CPR/AED), AED implementation and placement, and clear step-by-step protocols. "The law requires for the schools to implement a cardiac emergency response plan by 01/20/2026," the presenter said. The district said it aligned the draft with American Heart Association guidance and will expand CPR/AED training beyond nursing and coaching staff to administrators and other interested employees.

Key details: The presenter distinguished district-level and building-level plans, saying building response plans remain confidential because they contain site-specific evacuation and security details while the district plan contains the board-adopted components such as the CERP. At the high school the district added an AED near the auditorium and an indoor family support center to make equipment visually accessible; the presenter cited these placements as intended to reduce time-to-access in an emergency. The public comment period on the draft closed Nov. 28 with no comments, the presenter said.

Next steps: The presenter said the safety plan with the CERP will be placed on the board agenda for a formal vote in January; the superintendent later announced the January 6 meeting would be moved to January 13, and the district said it will update the state system once the plan is approved so it meets the statutory implementation timeline. The board did not take a final vote on the CERP during this meeting.

Sources and quotes in this article come directly from the board meeting transcript; where language in the transcript was inconsistent about the law's name, this article uses the spelling and name given in the transcript passage that describes the law's origin (Deja Sanders).