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Board adopts district-wide safety and emergency plan after public hearing
Summary
After a public hearing, the White Plains Board of Education adopted the district-wide safety and emergency management plan for 2026–2027, with officials saying recent state-mandated updates mainly formalize existing practices and add documented procedures for AED coverage and before/after-school incident reporting.
After a public hearing, the White Plains City School District Board of Education voted to adopt the district-wide safety and emergency management plan and school building-level emergency response plans for the 2026–2027 school year.
Jeremy Harrison, introduced by the board as the district liaison who heads the safety team, said many of the state Department of Education’s requested changes did not alter local operations but required clearer documentation. “The changes that we made in the district-wide plan, which is what we're here to adopt tonight, was just to ensure that we're documenting that we're doing everything they're asking us to do and we have been doing for years,” Harrison said. He highlighted two specific additions included in the district plan: expanded AED coverage for groups and clearer before- and after-school incident reporting procedures.
Board members and staff also noted a recent fire at Highlands auditorium, praised the White Plains Fire Department’s response and described follow-up structural and environmental assessments that allowed students to return to school. Officials told the board that confidential building emergency plans have been reviewed with building teams and approved; the district plan adopted on June 8 is intended to document those practices at the district level.
Board President Eller (referenced in the meeting) closed the hearing and moved the item forward; the motion to adopt the district plan was seconded and recorded in the transcript as carried with the board answering 'all in favor.' The meeting record does not list individual vote tallies.
The board said interagency coordination with the White Plains Department of Public Safety and school resource officers is ongoing. Staff described routine joint training, the district’s ability to share camera footage with public safety when needed, and an established practice of inviting first responders to walk buildings outside of emergencies.
Next steps noted by the district were procedural: implementation of the newly documented reporting language and continued building-level training. The adopted district plan covers practices that district staff said were already in place and sets the formal district-level documentation required by state guidance.
