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Superintendent outlines new law on cardiac emergency awareness and district safety plan updates
Summary
District leaders summarized a newly signed state law (referred to in the meeting as "Dessler's/Dasch's law") requiring expanded emphasis on signs and symptoms of cardiac arrest in school safety plans, annual staff training on recognition (not mandatory CPR for all), and updating building emergency response documents for re‑adoption at the next board meeting.
The superintendent told the board that a recently enacted law (referred to in the transcript as "Dessler's" or "Dasch's" law) requires schools to update their safety plans to include annual training on signs and symptoms of cardiac arrest and related awareness. The district already has automated external defibrillators (AEDs), nurses and staff trained in CPR for many activities, but the law broadens the emphasis on recognizing cardiac events and ensuring staff and appropriate students know how to alert responders.
The superintendent said volunteers are not considered 'staff' for annual training requirements, and clarified that the new requirement is about recognizing signs and symptoms — not universally performing CPR. The district will add information to building‑level emergency response plans and will hold a required public hearing as part of the plan‑readoption timeline; the superintendent said the plan will be readopted at the January meeting (noted in the transcript as 01/25/2026).
Board members asked whether training would include coaches and volunteers; the superintendent replied that coaches are already required to have training, but volunteers are excluded from the 'staff' requirement. Staff also suggested classroom contexts (physical education, science, health) where awareness could be discussed with students at age‑appropriate levels.
What’s next: The district will update building emergency response language, provide annual signs/symptoms‑focused training to school staff and re‑adopt updated safety plans at the board meeting within the stated timeline.
