West Islip board approves district emergency response plan; AED update required by Dec. 21 under "Desha's law"

The West Islip Union Free School District Board of Education on Aug. 11 approved a district emergency response plan intended to be in place before the start of the school year.

Dr. Romano introduced the plan, saying individual school emergency response plans are confidential, uploaded to the state website and will be in place prior to the start of the school year. He told the board that a bill signed on July 24, referred to in the meeting as "Desha's law," requires districts to implement a cardiac emergency response plan and that ‘‘that is gonna be an update that will have to be by December 21.’’

The board moved to approve the district plan during the meeting; a motion and second were recorded and the board approved the plan by voice vote. Mr. McCann called for public comment on the agenda item and reported none.

Why this matters: the update required by Dec. 21 concerns automated external defibrillator (AED) locations and maintenance and is intended to align the district's procedures with the referenced state requirement. Dr. Romano said the district had solicited feedback via a roughly 30-day public comment period on the website and consulted building principals while preparing the plan.

Board next steps: the board-approved plan will be in place for the upcoming school year, and district staff will prepare the specified AED-location and maintenance update for completion by Dec. 21 as described in the meeting.

Provenance: topic introduced in the meeting by Dr. Romano and discussed in presentation and immediate vote (transcript segments beginning SEG 012 and concluding SEG 050).